/ 



>i»> 



TITK REDSKINS. 



THE REDSKINS; 

OB, 

IT^DIAI^ AISTD IISTJIN 



BEING THE CONCLUSION OF 



THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCEIFTS. 



BY 

J. FENIMORE COOPER. 



" In every work rejrard the writer's end ; 
None e'er can compass more than they intend." 

Pope. 



NEW YORK: 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

649 & 5 5 1 B ROADWAY, 
1873. 




AS 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year I860, by 

W. A. TOWNSEND AND COMPANY, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the SouthotTi District of New York. 



«5',f^'.-'« 







PREFACE. 



This book closes the scries of the Littlepagc Manu- 
scripts, which have been given to the world, as contain- 
ing a fair account of the comparative sacrifices of time, 
money and labor, made respectively by the landlord and 
the tenants, on a New York estate ; together with the 
manner in which usages and opinions are changing 
among us ; as well as certain of the reasons of these 
changes. The discriminating reader will probably be 
able to trace in these narratives the progress of those 
innovations on the great laws of morals which are be- 
coming so very manifest in connection with this interest, 
setting at naught the plainest principles that God has 
transmitted to man for the government of his conduct, 
and all under the extraordinary pretence of favoring 
liberty ! In this downward course, our picture embraces 
some of the proofs of that looseness of views on the 
subject of certain species of property which is, in a de- 
gree perhaps, inseparable from the semibarbarous con- 
dition of a new settlement; the gradation of the s<[uat- 



ter, from liim who merely makes liis pitcli to crop a few 
fields in passing, to bim who carries on the business by 
wholesale ; and last, though not least in this catalogue 
of marauders, the anti-renter. 

It would be idle to deny that the great principle which 
lies at the bottom of anti-rentism, if principle it can be 
called, is the assumption of a claim that the interests and 
wishes of numbers are to be respected, though done at 
a sacrifice of the clearest rights of the few. That this 
is not liberty, but tyranny in its worst form, every right- 
thinking and right-feeling man must be fully aware. 
Every one who knows much of the history of the past, 
and of the influence of classes, must understand, that 
whenever the educated, the affluent and the practised, 
choose to unite their means of combination and money 
to control the political destiny of a country, they be- 
come irresistible ; making the most subservient tools of 
those very masses who vainly imagine they are the true 
guardians of their own liberties. The well-known elec- 
tion of 1840 is a memorable instance of the power of 
such a combination ; though that was a combination 
formed mostly for the mere purposes of faction, sustained 
perhaps by the desperate designs of the insolvents of the 
country. Such a combination was necessarily wanting 
in union among the aifluent; it had not the high sup- 
port of principles to give it sanctity, and it affords little 
more than the proof of the power of money and leisure, 
when applied in a very doubtful cause, in wielding the 
masses of a great nation, to be the instruments of their 
own subjection. No well-intentioned American legisla- 
tor, consequently, ought ever to lose sight of the fact, 



that each invasion of the right which he sanctions is a 
blow struck against liberty itself, which, in a conntr}' 
like this, has no auxiliary so certain or so powerful as 
justice. 

The state of ISTcw York contains about 43,000 square 
miles of land ; or something like 27,000,000 of acres. 
In 1783, its population must have been about 200,000 
souls. With such a proportion between people and sur- 
face it is unnecessary to prove that the husbandman was 
not quite as dependent on the landholder, as the land- 
holder was dependent on the husbandman. This would 
have been true, had the state been an island ; but we 
all know it was surrounded by many other communities 
similarly situated, and that nothing else was so abundant 
as land. All notions of exactions and monopolies, there- 
fore, must be untrne, as applied to those two interests at 
that day. 

In 1786-7, the state of New York, then in possession 
of all powers on the subject, abolished entails, and oth- 
erwise brought its law of real estate in harmony with 
the institutions. At that time, hundreds, perhaps thou- 
sands, of the leases which have since become so obnox- 
ious, w'cre in existence. With the attention of the state 
drawn directly to the main subject, no one saw any thing 
incompatible with the institutions in them. It was felt 
that tJie landlords had hought the tenants to occupy their 
lands hy the liberality of their concessions^ and that the 
latter were the obliged parties. Had the landlords cf 
tliat day endeavored to lease for one year, or for ten 
years, no tenants could have been found for wild lands ; 
but it became a dillcrcut thing, when the owner of the 



Boil agreed to part with it forever, in consideration of a 
very low rent, granting six or eight years free from any 
cliarge whatever, and consenting to receive the product 
of the soil itself in lieu of money. Then, indeed, men 
were not only willing to come into the terms, but eager ; 
the best evidence of which is the fact, that the same 
tenants might have bought land, out and out, in every 
direction around them, had they not preferred the easier 
terms of the leases. Now that tliese same men, or 
their successors, have become rich enough to care more 
to be rid of the encumbrance of the rent than to keep 
tiieir money, the rights of the parties certainly are not 
altered. 

In 1789, the Constitution of the United States went 
into operation ; N^ew York being a party to its creation 
and conditions. By that Constitution, the state delib- 
erately deprived itself of the power to touch the cove- 
nants of these leases, without conceding the power to 
any other government; unless it might be through a 
change of the Constitution itself. As a necessary con- 
sequence, these leases, in a legal sense, belong to the in- 
stitutions of !New York, instead of being opposed to 
them. Not only is the spirit of the institutions in har- 
mony with these leases, but so is the letter also Men 
must draw a distinction between the " spirit of the in- 
stitutions" and their own "spirits;" the latter being 
often nothing more than a stomach that is not easily 
satisfied. It would be just as true to afiirm that domes- 
tic slavery is opposed to the institutions of the United 
States, as to say tlie same of tliese leases. It would be 
just as rational to maintain, because A docs not ciioose 



to make an associate of B, that lie is acting in opposi- 
tion to the " spirit of the institutions," inasmuch as the 
Declaration of Independence advances the dogma that 
men are born equal, as it is to say it is opposed to the 
same spirit, for B to pay rent to A according to his 
covenant. 

It is pretended that the durable leases arc feudal in 
their nature. We do not conceive this to be true; but, 
admitting it to be so, it would only prove that feudality, 
to this extent, is a part of the institutions of the state. 
"What is more, it would become a part over -which the 
state itself has conceded all power of control, beyond 
that which it may remotely possess as one, out of twen- 
ty-eight communities. As respects this feudal feature, 
it is not easy to say where it must be looked for. It is 
not to be found in the simple fact of paying rent, for 
that is so general as to render the whole country feudal, 
could it be true ; it cannot be in the circumstance that 
the rent is to be paid " in kind," as it is called, and in la- 
bor, for that is an advantage to the tenant, by aflording 
him tlic option, since the penalty of a failure leaves the 
alternative of paying in money. It must be, therefore, 
that these leases are feudal because they run forever ! 
Now the length of the lease is clearly a concession to 
the tenant, and was so regarded when received ; and 
there is not probably a single tenant, under lives, who 
would not gladly exchange his term of possession for 
that of one of these detestable durable leases ! 

Among the absurdities that have been circulated on 
this subject of feudality, it has been pretended that the 
well-known English statute of " quia emptores''^ has pro- 



hibited fines for alienation ; or that the quarter-sales, 
fifth-sales, sixtli-sales, &c., of our own leases were con- 
trary to the law of the realm, when made. Under the 
common law, in certain cases of feudal tenures, the fines 
for alienation were an incident of the tenure. The stat- 
ute of quia emptores abolished that general principle, 
but it in no manner forbade parties to enter into cove- 
nants of the nature of quarter-sales^ did they see fit. The 
common law gives all the real estate to the eldest son. 
Onr statute divides the real estate among the nearest 
of kin, without regard even to sex. It might just as 
well be pretended that the father cannot devise all his 
lands to his eldest son, under our statute, as to say that 
the law of Edward I. prevents parties from bargaining 
for quarter-sales. Altering a provision of the common 
law does not preclude parties from making covenants 
similar to its ancient provisions. 

Feudal tenures were originally divided into two great 
classes ; those wliich were called the military tenures, or 
knight's service, and soccage. The first tenure was that 
which became oppressive in the progress of society. 
Soccage was of two kinds; free and villain. The first 
has ail affinity to our own system, as connected with 
these leases ; the last never existed among us at all. 
When the knight's service, or military tenures of Eng- 
land, were converted into free soccage, in the reign of 
Charles II., the concession was considered of a character 
so favorable to liberty as to be classed among the great 
measures of the time ; one of which was the habeas coi-- 
■pus act ! 

Tlic only feature of our own leases, in the least ap 



proacliing " villain soccagc," is that of the " day's works." 
But every one acquainted with the habits of American 
life, will understand that husbandmen, in general, 
throughout the northern states, would regard it as an 
advantage to be able to pay their debts in this way ; 
and the law gives them an option, since a failure to 
pay " in kind," or in " work," merely incurs the for- 
feiture of paying what the particular thing is worth, 
in money. In point of fact, money has always been 
received for these ^' day's works," and at a stipulated 
price. 

But, it is pretended, whatever may be the equity of 
these leasehold contracts, they are offensive to the ten- 
ants, and ought to be abrogated, for the peace of the 
state. The state is bound to make all classes of men 
respect its laws, and in nothing more so than in the ful- 
filment of their legal contracts. The greater the num- 
ber of tlie offenders, the higher the obligation to act with 
decision and efhciency. To say that these disorganizers 
ought not to be put down, is to say that crime is to ob- 
tain impunity by its own extent; and to say that they 
cannot be put down " under our form of government," is 
a direct admission that the government is unequal to the 
discharge of one of the plainest and commonest obliga- 
tions of all civilized society. If this be really so, the 
sooner we get rid of the present form of government 
the better. The notion of remedying such an evil by 
concession, is as puerile as it is dishonest. The larger 
the concessions become, the greater will be the exactions 
of a cormorant cupidity. As soon as quiet is obtained 
by these means, in reference to the leasehold tenures, it 



will be demanded by some fresh combination to attain 
some other end. 

When Lee told Washington, at Monmouth, " Sir, yonr 
troops will not stand against British grenadiers," Wash- 
ington is said to have answered, " Sir, you have never 
tried thetn." The same reply might be given to those 
miserable traducers of this republic, who, in order to 
obtain votes, affect to think there is not sufficient energy 
in its government to put down so barefaced an attempt 
as this of the anti-renters to alter the conditions of their 
own leases to suit their own convenience. The county 
of Delaware has, of itself, nobly given the lie to the as- 
sertion, the honest portion of its inhabitants scattering 
the knaves to the four winds, the moment there was a 
fair occasion made for them to act. A single, energetic 
proclamation from Albany, calling a " spade a spade," 
and not affecting to gloss over the disguised rol)bery of 
these anti-renters, and laying just principles fairly be- 
fore the public mind, would of itself have crushed the 
evil in its germ. The people of JSTew York, in their 
general capacity, are not the knaves their servants evi- 
dently suppose. 

The Assembly of New York, in its memorable session 
of 1846, has taxed the rents on long leases ; thus, not 
only taxing the same property twice, but imposing the 
worst sort of income-tax, or one aimed at a few individ- 
uals. It has " thimble-rigged " in its legislation, as Mr. 
Hugh Littlepage not unaptly terms it ; endeavoring to 
do that indirectly, which the Constitution will not per- 
mit it to do directly. In other words, as it can pass no 
direct law "impairing the obligation of contracts," Avhile 



it can regulate descents, it has enacted, so far as one 
l)ody of the legislature has power to enact any thing, 
that on the death of a landlord the tenant may convert 
his lease into a mortgage, on discharging which he shall 
hold his land in fee ! 

We deem the first of these measures far more tyran- 
nical than the attempt of Great Britain to tax her colo- 
nies, which brought about the revolution. It is of the 
same general character, that of unjust taxation: while 
it is attended by circumstances of aggravation that were 
altogether wanting in the policy of the mother country. 
This is not a tax for revenue, which is not needed ; but 
a tax to " choke off" landlords, to use a common Ameri- 
can phrase. It is clearly taxing nothing, or it is taxing 
the same property twice. It is done to conciliate three 
or four thousand voters, who are now in the market, at 
the expense of three or four hundred who, it is known, 
are not to be bought. It is unjust in its motives, its 
means and its end. The measure is discreditable to 
civilization, and an outrage on liberty. 

But, the other law mentioned is an atrocity so grave, 
as to alarm every man of common principle in the state, 
were it not so feeble in its devices to cheat the Constitu- 
tion, as to excite contempt. This extraordinary power 
is exercised because the legislature can control the law of 
descents, though it cannot " impair the obligation of con- 
tracts !" Had the law said at once that on the death of 
a landlord each of his tenants should own his farm in 
fee, the ensemble of the fraud would have been preserved, 
since the "law of descents" would have been so far regu- 
lated as to substitute one heir for another ; but changing 



tha nature of a contract, with a party who has nothing tc 
do with the succession at all, is not so very clearly altering, 
or amending, the law of descents ! It is scarcely neces- 
sary to say that every reputable court in the country, 
whether state or federal, would brand such a law with 
the disgrace it merits. 

But the worst feature of this law, or attempted law, 
remains to be noticed. It would have been a premium 
on murder. Murder has already been committed by 
these anti-renters, and tliat obviously to effect their ends; 
a!Kl they are to be told that whenever you shoot a land- 
lord, as some have already often shot at them, you can 
convert your leasehold tenures into tenures in fee ! The 
mode of valuation is so obvious, too, as to deserve a re- 
mark. A master M^as to settle the valuation on testimo- 
ny. The witnesses of course would be "the neighbors," 
and a whole patent could swear for each other! 

As democrats we protest most solemnly against such 
barefaced frauds, such palpable cupidity and covetous- 
ness, being termed any thing but what they are. If 
they come of any party at all, it is the party of the 
devil. Democracy is a lofty and noble sentiment. It 
docs not rob the poor to make the rich richer, nor the 
rich to favor the poor. It is just, and treats all men 
alike. It does not " impair the obligations of contracts." 
It is not the friend of a canting legislation, but, meaning 
right, dare act directly. There is no greater delusion 
than to suppose that true democracy has any thing in 
common with injustice or roguery. 

Nor is it an apology for antirentism, in any of its 
aspects, to say that leasehold tenures are inexpedient. 



TKEFACE. 



The most expedient thing in existence is to do right 
Were there no other objection to this anti-rent move- 
ment tlian its corrupting influence, that alone should set 
every wise man in the community firmly against it. 
We have seen too much of this earth, to be so easily con- 
vinced that there is any disadvantage, nay, that there is 
not a positive advantage, in the existence of large lease- 
-hold estates, M-hcn they carry with them no political 
power, as is the fact here. The common-place argu- 
ment against thetn, that they defeat the civilization of a 
country, is not sustained by fact. The most civilized 
countries on earth are under this system ; and this sys- 
tem, too, not entirely free from grave objections which 
do not exist among ourselves. That a poorer class of 
citizens have originally leased than have purchased 
lands in New York, is probably true ; and it is equally 
probable that the efi:ects of this poverty, and even of the 
tenure in the infancy of a country, are to be traced on 
the estates. But this is taking a very one-sided view of 
the matter. The men who became tenants in moderate 
but comfortable circumstances, would have been mostly 
laborers on the larms of others, but for these leasehold 
tenures. Tliat is the benefit of the system in a new 
country, and the ultra friend of humanity, who decries 
the condition of a tenant, should remember that if he 
had not been in this very condition, he might have been 
in a worse. It is, indeed, one of the proofs of the insin- 
cerity of those who are decrying leases, on account of 
their aristocratic tendencies, that their destruction will 
necessarily condemn a numerous class of agiiculturists, 
either to fall l)aclc into the raid^s of tlie peasant or day 



laborer, or to migrate, as is the case with so many of 
the same class in New England. In point of fact, the 
relation of landlord and tenant is one entirely natural 
and salutary, in a wealthy community, and one that is 
so much in accordance with the necessities of men, that 
no legislation can long prevent it. A state of things 
which will not encourage the rich to hold real estate 
would not be desirable, since it would be diverting tlieir 
money, knowledge, liberality, feelings and leisure, from 
the improvement of the soil, to objects neither so useful 
nor so praiseworthy. 

The notion that every husbandman is to be a freehold- 
er, is as Utopian in practice, as it would be to expect 
tliat all men were to be on the same level in fortune, 
condition, education and habits. As such a state of 
tilings as the last never yet did exist, it was probably 
never designed by divine wisdom that it should exist. 
The whole structure of society must be changed, even 
in this country, ere it could exist among ourselves, and 
the change would not have been made a month before 
the utter impracticability of such a social fusion would 
make itself felt by all. 

We have elsewhere imputed much of the anti-rent 
feeling to provincial education and habits. This tenn 
has given the deepest ofl'ence to those who were most 
obnoxious to the charge. Nevertheless, our opinion is 
unchanged. We know that the distance between the 
cataract at Niagara and the Massachusetts line is a large 
hundred leagues, and that it is as great between Sandy 
Hook and the 4:5th parallel of latitude. Many excellent 
things, moral and physical, are to be found within these 



limits, beyond a question ; but wc happen to know by 
an experience that has extended to other quarters of the 
world, for a term now exceeding forty years, that more 
arc to be found beyond them. If " honorable gentle- 
men " at Albany fancy the reverse, they must still per^ 
mit us to believe they are too much under the influence 
of provincial notions. 




THE PiEDSKINS. 



CHAPTER I. 

" Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and 
She said — thou wert my daughter; and thy father 
Was duke of Milan ; and his only heir 
A princess ; — no worse issued." 

Tempest. 

Mr uncle Ro and myself had been travelling together in the 
East, and had been absent from home fully five years, when we 
reached Paris. For eighteen months neither of us had seen a 
line from America, when we drove through the barriers, on om 
way from Egpyt, via Algiers, Marseilles, and Lyons. Not once, 
in all that time, had we crossed our own track, in a way to 
enable us to pick up a straggling letter ; and all our previous 
precautions to have the epistles meet us at diftercnt bankers in 
Italy, Turkey and ^lalta were thrown away. 

My uncle was an old traveller — I might almost say, an old 
resident — in Europe ; for he had passed no less than twenty 
years of his fifty-nine off the American continent. A bachelor, 
with nothing to do but to take care of a very ample estate, 
which was rapidly increasing in value by the enormous growth 
of the town of New York, and with tastes early formed by 
travelling, it was natural he should seek those regions where he 
most enjoyed himself, llugh Roger Littlepage was born in 
178G — the second son of my grandfather, Mordaunt Littlepage, 
and of Ursula Malbonc, his wife. My own father, Malbonc 



20 THEREDSKINS. 

Littlepage, was the eldest child of that counection; and he 
would have inherited the property of Ravensnest, in virtue of 
his birthright, had he survived his own parents ; but, dying 
young, I stepped into what would otherwise have been his suc- 
cession, in my eighteenth year. My uncle Ro, however, had got 
both Satanstoe and Lilacsbush ; two country-houses and farms, 
which, while they did not aspire to the dignity of being estates, 
were likely to prove more valuable, in the long run, than the 
broad acres which were intended for the patrimony of the elder 
brother. My grandfather was affluent ; for not only had the 
fortune of the Littlepages centred in him, but so did that of the 
Mordaunts, the wealthier family of the two, together with some 
exceedingly liberal bequests from a certain Colonel Dirck Pol- 
lock, or Van Valkenburgh ; who, though only a very distant 
connection, chose to make my great-grandmother's, or Anneke 
Mordaunt's descendants his heirs. We all had enough ; my 
aunts having handsome legacies, in the way of bonds and mort- 
gages on an estate called Mooseridge, in addition to some lots 
in town ; while my own sister, Martha, had a clear fifty thou- 
sand dollars in mone3\ I had town lots, also, which were 
becoming productive ; and a special minority of seven years had 
made an accumulation of cash that was well vested in New 
York state stock, and which promised well for the future. I 
say a "special" minority; for both my father and grandfather, 
in placing, the one, myself and a portion of the property, and 
the other, the remainder of my estate, under the guardianship 
and ward of my uncle, had made a provision that I was not to 
come into possession until I had completed my twenty-fifth 
year. 

I left college at twenty ; and my uncle Ro, for so Martha and 
myself always called him, and so he was always called by some 
twenty cousins, the offspring of our three aunts ; — but my uncle 
Ro, when I was done with college, proposed to finish my edu- 
cation by travelling. As this was only too agreeable to a young 
man, away we wont, just after the pressure of the great panic 
)f 1836-V was over, and our "lots" were in tolerable security, 



THE REDSKINS 



21 



and our stocks safe. In America it requires almost as much 
vigilance to take care of propertj^, as it does industry to acquire, 
it. 

Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepagc — by tlie way, I bore the same 
name, though I was always called Ilugh, while my uncle went 
by the different appellations of Roger, Ro, and Hodge, among 
his familiars, as circumstances had rendered the associations 
sentimental, affectionate, or manly — Mr. Ilugh Roger Little- 
page, senior, then, had a system of his own, in the way of aid- 
ing the scales to fall from American eyes, by means of seeing 
more clearly than one does, or can, at home, let him belong 
where he may, and in clearing the specks of provincialism from 
off the diamond of republican water. He had already seen 
enough to ascertain that while ** our country," as this blessed 
nation is very apt on all occasions, appropriate or not, to be 
called by all who belong to it, as well as by a good many who 
do not, could teach a great deal to the old world, there was a 
possibility — ^just a possibility, remark, is my word — that it 
might also learn a little. With a view, therefore, of acquiring 
knowledge seriatim, as it might be, he was for beginning with 
the hornbook, and going on regularly up to the belles-lettref 
and mathematics. The manner in which this was effectec' 
deserves a notice. 

Most American travellers land in England, the country far- 
thest advanced in material civilization ; then proceed to Italy, 
and perhaps to Greece, leaving Germany, and the less attractive 
regions of the noilh, to come in at the end of the chapter. My 
uncle's theory was, to follow the order of time, and to begin 
with the ancients and end with the moderns ; though, in adopt- 
ing such a rule, he admitted he somewhat lessened the pleasure 
of the novice ; since an American, fresh from the fresher fields 
of the western continent, might very well find delight in me- 
morials of the past, more especially in England, which pall on 
his taste, and appear insignificant, after he has become familial 
with the Temple of Neptune, the Parthenon, or what is left of 
it, and the Coliseum. I make no doubt that I lost a great deal 



22 T II K R B D S K I N S , 

of passing happiness in this way, by beginning at the beginning, 
in Italy, and travelling north. 

Such was our course, however ; and, landing at Leghorn, wa 
did the peninsula effectually in a twelvemonth ; thence passed 
through Spain up to Paris, and proceeded on to Moscow and 
the Baltic, reaching England from Hamburg. When we had 
got through with the British isles, the antiquities of which 
seemed flat and uninteresting to me, after having seen those 
that Avere so much more antique, we returned to Paris, in order 
that I might become a man of the world, if possible, by rub- 
bing off the provincial specks that had unavoidably adhered to 
the American diamond while in its obscurity. 

My uncle Ro was fond of Paris, and he had actually become 
the owner of a small hotel in the faubourg, in which he retained 
a handsome furnished apartment for his own use. The remain- 
der of the house was let to permanent tenants ; but the whole 
of the first floor, and of the entresol, remained in his hands. As 
a special favor, he would allow some American family to occupy 
even his own apartment — or rather ctj^partement, for the words 
are not exactly synonymous — when he intended to be absent 
for a term exceeding six months, using the money thus obtained 
in keeping the furniture in repair, and his handsome suite of 
rooms, including a salon, salle d manger, antichamhre cabinet, 
several chanibres d coucher, and a boudoir — yes, a male boudoir ! 
for so he affected to call it — in a condition to please even his 
fastidiousness. 

On our arrival from England, we remained an entire season 
at Paris, all that time rubbing the specks off the diamond, 
when my uncle suddenly took it into his head that we ought 
to see the East. He had never been further than Greece, him- 
self; and he now took a fancy to be my companion in such an 
excursion. We were gone two years and a half, visiting Greece, 
Constantinople, Asia Minor, the Holy Land, Petra, the Red 
Sea, Egypt quite to the second cataracts, and nearly the whole 
of Barbary. The latter region we threw in, by way of seeing 
something out of the common track. But so many hats and 



TIIEUEDSKINS. 23 

travelling-caps are to be met with, nowadays, among the tur- 
bans, tliat a well-mannered Christian may get along almost any- 
where without being spit upon. This is a great inducement 
for travelling generally, and ought to bo so especially to an 
American, who, on the whole incurs rather more risk now of 
suffering this humiliation at home, than he would even in 
Algiers. But the animus is every thing in morals. 

We had, then, been absent two years and a half from Paris, 
and had not seen a paper or received a letter from America in 
eighteen months, when we drove through the barrier. Even 
the letters and papers received or seen previously to this last 
term, were of a private nature, and contained nothing of a gen- 
oral character. The " twenty millions" — it was only the other 
day they were called the "twelve millions" — but, the "twenty 
millions," wo knew, had been looking up amazingly after the 
temporary depression of the moneyed crisis it had gone through ; 
and 'the bankers had paid our drafts with confidence, and with- 
out extra charges, during the whole time we had been absent. 
It is true, uncle Ro, as an experienced traveller, went well 
fortified in the way of credit — a precaution by no means unnec- 
essary with America, after the cry that had been raised against 
us in the old world. 

And here I wish to say one thing plainly, before I write an- 
other lino. As for falling into the narrow, self-adulatory, pro- 
vincial feeling of the American who has never left his mother's 
apron-string, and which causes him to swallow, open-mouthed, 
all the nonsense that is uttered to the world in the columns of 
newspapers, or in the pages of your yearling travellers, who go 
on " excursions" before they are half instructed in the social 
usages and the distinctive features of their own country, I hope 
I shall bo just as far removed from such a weakness, in any 
passing remark that may flow from my pen, a.s from the crime 
of confounding principles and denying facts, in a way to do 
discredit to the land of my birth and that of my ancestors. I 
have lived long enough in the " world," not meaning thereby 
the south-east corner of the north-west township of Connccti- 



24 T H E R E D S K I N S . 

cut, to understand that we are a vast way behind older nations, 
in thought as well as deed, in many things ; while, on the oppo- 
site hand, they are a vast way behind us in others. I see no 
patriotism in concealing a Avholesome truth ; and least of all 
shall I be influenced by the puerility of a desire to hide any 
thing of this nature, because I cannot communicate it to my 
countrymen without communicating it to the rest of the world. 
If England or France had acted on this narrow principle, where 
would have been their Shakspeares, their Sheridans, their Beau- 
monts and Fletchers, and their Molieres! No, no! great 
national truths are not to be treated as the gossiping surmises 
of village crones. He who reads what I ivrite, therefore, must 
expect to find what I think of matters and things, and not ex- 
actly what he may happen to think on the same subject. Any 
one is at liberty to compare opinions with me ; but I ask the 
privilege of possessing some small liberty of conscience in what 
is, far and near, proclaimed to be the only free country on the 
earth. By " far and near," I mean from the St. Croix to the 
liio Grande, and from Cape Cod to the entrance of St. Juan de 
Fuca, and a pretty farm it makes, the "interval" that lies be- 
tween these limits ! One may call it " far and near" without 
the imputation of obscurity, or that of vanity. 

Our tour was completed, in spite of all annoyances ; and here 
we were again, within the walls of magnificent Paris ! The 
postilions had been told to drive to the hotel, in the rue St. 
Dominique ; and we sat down to dinner, an hour after our arri- 
val, under our own roof. My uncle's tenant had left the apart- 
ment a month before, according to agreement ; and the porter 
and his wife had engaged a cook, set the rooms in order, and 
prepared every thing for our arrival. 

" It must be owned, Hugh," said my uncle, as he finished 
his soup that day, " one may live quite comfortably in Paris, 
if he possess the savoir vivre. Nevertheless, I have a strong 
desire to get a taste of native air. One may say and think 
what he pleases about the Paris pleasures, and the Paris cuisine, 
and all that sort of thing; but "home is home, be it ever 



TIIEREDSKINS. 25 

SO homely.' A ^ (Tlnde aux truffes' is capital eating; so is a 
turkey witli cranberry sauce. I sometimes tliink I could fancy 
even a pumpkin-pie, though there is not a fragment of the rock 
of Plymouth in the granite of my frame." 

" I have always told you, sir, that America is a capital eating 
and drinking country, let it want civilization in other matters, 
as much as it may." 

" Capital for eating and drinking, Hugh, if you can keep 
clear of the grease, in the first place, and find a real cook, in 
the second. There is as much difference between the cookery 
of New England, for instance, and that of the Middle states, 
barring the Dutch, as there is between that of England and 
Germany. The cookery of the ^Middle states, and of the 
Southern states, too, though that savors a little of the West 
Indies — but the cookery of the Middle states is English, in its 
best sense ; meaning the hearty, substantial, savory dishes of 
the English in their true domestic life, with their roast-bccf 
underdone, their beef-steaks done to a turn, their chops full of 
gravy, their mutton-broth, Icgs-of-mutton, et id omne genus. 
We have some capital things of our own, too ; such as canvas- 
liacks, reedbirds, sheepshead, shad, and blackfish. The differ- 
ence between New England and the Middle states, is still quite 
observable, though in my younger days it was 2Mtent. I sup- 
pose the cause has been the more provincial origin, and the 
more provincial habits of our neighbors. By George ! Hugh, 
one could fancy clam-soup just now, eh !" 

" Clam-soup, sir, well made, is one of the most delicious 
soups in the world. If the cooks of Paris could get hold of 
the dish, it would set them up for a wliole season." 

"What is *■ creme de Baviere\ and all such nicknacks, boy, 
to a good plateful of clam-soup? Well made, as you say 
— made as a cook of Jennings' used to make it, thirty years 
since. Did I ever mention that fellow's soup to you before, 
Hugh ?" 

''Often, sir. I have tasted very excellent clam-soup, how- 
ever that he never saw. Of course you mean soup just flavored 
9 



26 THEKEDSKINS. 

by the little hard-clam — none of your vulgar foiage., 6, la soft- 
clara?" 

" Soft-clams be hanged ! they are not made for gentlemen to 
cat. Of course I mean the hard-clam, and the small clam, 



'Here's your fine clams. 
As white as snow; 
On Kockaway 
These clains do grow.' 



The cries of New York are quite going out, like every thing 
else at home that is twenty years old. Shall I send you some 
of this eternal poulet a la Marenc/o? I wish it were honest 
American boiled fowl, with a delicate bit of shoat-pork along- 
side of it. I feel amazingly Jiomeish this evening, Hugh!" 

"It is quite natural, my dear uncle Ro; and I own to the 
'soft impeachment' myself. Ilere have we both been absent 
from our native land five years, and half that time almost with- 
out hearing from it. We know that Jacob" — this was a free 
negro who served my uncle, a relic of the old domestic system 
of the colonies, whose name Avould have been Jaaf, or Yop, 
thirty years before — "has gone to our banker's for letters and 
papers; and that naturally draws our thoughts to the other 
side of the Atlantic. I dare say we shall both feel relieved at 
breakfast to-morrow, Avhen we shall have read our respective 
dispatches." 

"Come, let us take a glass of wine together, in the good old 
York fashion, Hugh. Your father and I, wlien boys, never 
thought of wetting our lips Avith the half-glass of Madeira that 
fell to our share, without saying, 'Good health, Mall! 'Good 
health, Hodge !' " 

"With all my heart, uncle Ro. The custom was getting to 
be a little obsolete even before I left home ; but it is almost an 
American custom, by sticking to us longer than to most 
people." 

"Henri!" 

This was my uncle's maltre (.rhotel, whom he had kept at 



T UK REDSKINS. 27 

board-wages the "whole time of our absence, in order to make 
sure of his ease, quiet, taste, skill, and honesty, on his return. 

"Monsieur!" 

" I dare say" — my unele spoke French exceedingly well for 
a foreigner ; but it is better to translate what he said as we go 
— "I dare say this glass of vin de Boargogne is very good ; it 
looks good, and it came from a wine-merchant on whom I can 
rely ; but Monsieur Hugh and I are going to drink together, d 
V Amerka'mc, and I dare say you will let us have a glass of 
Madeira, though it is somewhat late in the dinner to take it." 

"Tres volontiers. Messieurs — it is my happiness to oblige 
you." 

Uncle Ro and I took the Madeira together ; but I cannot say 
much in favor of its quality. 

"What a capital thing is a good Newtown pippin!" exclaim- 
ed my uncle, after eating a while in silence. " They talk a 
great deal about their poire beurree, here at Paris; but, to my 
fancy; it will not compare with the Newtowners we grow at 
Satanstoe, where, by the way, the fruit is rather better, I think, 
than that one finds across the river, at Newtown itself." 

" They are capital apples, sir; and your orchard at Satanstoe 
is one of the best I know, or rather what is left of it ; for I 
believe a portion of your trees are in what is now a suburb of 
Dibbletonborough ?" 

" Yes, blast that place ! I wish I had never parted with a 
foot of the old neck, though I did rather make money by the 
sale. But money is no compensation for the aftections." 

" Rather make money, my dear sir ! Pray, may I ask what 
Satanstoe was valued at, when you got it from my grandfa- 
ther?" 

"]^i'ctty well up, Hugh ; for it was, and indeed is, a firstrate 
farm. Including sedges and salt-meadows, you will remember 
that there are quite five hundred acres of it, altogether." 

" Which you inherited in 1829 ?" 

" Of course ; that was the year of my father's death. Why, 
the place was thought to be worth about thirty thousand dol- 



28 T 11 E R E D S K I N S . 

lars at that time ; but land Avas rather low iu Westchester in 
1829." 

" And you sold two hundred acres, including the point, the 
harbor, and a good deal of the sedges, for the moderate modi- 
cum of one hundred and ten thousand, cash. A tolerable sale, 
sir !" 

" No, not cash. I got only eighty thousand down, while 
thirty thousand were secured by mortgage." 

" Which mortgage you hold yet, I dare say, if the truth 
were told, covering the whole city of Dibbletonborough. A 
city ought to be good security for thirty thousand dollars ?" 

" It is not, nevertheless, in this case. The speculators who 
bought of me in 1835 laid out their town, built a hotel, a wharf, 
and a warehouse, and then had an auction. They sold four 
hundred lots, each twenty-five feet by a hundred, regulation size, 
you see, at an average of two hundred and fifty dollars, receiv- 
ing one-half, or fifty thousand dollars down, and leaving the 
balance on mortgage. Soon after this, the bubble burst, and 
the best lot at Dibbletonborough would not bring, under the 
hammer, twenty dollars. The hotel and the warehouse stand 
alone in their glory, and Avill thus stand until they fall, which 
will not be a thousand years hence, I rather thint." 

"And what is the condition of the town-plot?" 

" Bad enough. The landmarks are disappearing, and it 
would cost any man who should attempt it, the value of his lot, 
to hire a surveyor to find his twenty-five by a hundred." 

" But your mortgage is good ?" 

" Ay, good in one sense ; but it would puzzle a Philadelphia 
lawyer to foreclose it. Why, the equitable interests in that 
town-plot people the place of themselves. I ordered my agent 
to commence buying up the rights, as the shortest process of 
getting rid of them ; and he told me in the very last letter I 
received, that he had succeeded in pui'chasing the titles to three 
hundred and seventeen of the lots, at an average price of 
ten dollars. The remainder, I suppose, will have to be ab- 
sorbed." 



THE REDSKINS. 29 

"Absorbed ! That is a process I never heard of, as applied 
to land." 

"There is a good deal of it done, notwithstanding, in Amer- 
ica. It is merely including within your own possession, adja- 
cent land for which no claimant appears. What can I do ? No 
owners are to be found ; and then my mortgage is always a 
title. A possession of twenty years under a mortgage is as good 
as .1 deed in fee-simple, with full covenants of warranty, barring 
minors and/emc5 covert^ 
' " You did better by Lilacsbush ?" 

"Ah, that -was a clean transaction, and has left no drawbacks. 
Lilacsbush being on the island of Manhattan, one is sure there 
will be a town there, some day or other. It is true, the prop- 
erty lies quite eight miles from the City Hall ; nevertheless, it 
has a value, and can always be sold at something near it. Then 
the plan of New York is made and recorded, and one can find 
his lots. Nor can any man say when the town will not reach 
Kingsbridge." 

"You got a round piece for the Bush, too, I have heard, 

sir r 

" I got three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, in 
hard cash. I would give no credit, and have every dollar of 
the money, at this moment, in good six per cent, stock of the 
states of New York and Ohio." 

"Which some persons in this part of the world would fancy 
to be no very secure investment." 

" More fools they. America is a glorious country, after 
all, Hugh ; and it is a pride and a satisfiiction to belong to it. 
Look back at it, as I can remember it, a nation spit upon by all 
the rest of Christendom " 

" You must at least own, my dear sir," I put in, somewhat 
pertly, perhaps, "the example might tempt other people ; for, 
if ever there was a nation that is assiduously spitting on itself, 
it is our own beloved land." 

"True, it has that nasty custom in excess, and it grows 
worse instead of better, as the intltfence of the better mannered 



30 T II E R E 1> S K I N S . 

and better educated diminishes; but tliis is a spot on the sun — 
a mere tiaw in the diamond, that friction will take out. But 
■what a country — what a glorious country, in truth, it is ! You 
have now done the civilized parts of the old world pretty thor- 
oughly, my dear boy, and must be persuaded, yourself, of the 
superiority of your native land." 

"I remember you have always used this language, uncle 
Ro ; yet have you passed nearly one-half of your time out of 
that glorious country, since you have reached man's estate." 

"The mere consequence of accidents and tastes. I do not 
mean that America is a country for a bachelor to begin with ; 
the means of amusement for those who have no domestic 
hearths, are too limited for the bachelor. Nor do I mean that 
society in America, in its ordinary meaning, is in any Avay as 
well-ordered, as tasteful, as well-mannered, as agreeable, or as 
instructive and useful, as society in almost any European coun- 
try I know. I have never supposed that the man of leisure, 
apart from the affections, could ever enjoy liimself half as much 
at liome, as he may enjoy himself in this part of the world ; 
and I am willing to admit that, intellectually, most gentlemen 
in a great European capital live as much in one day, as they 
would live in a week in such places as New York, and Phila- 
delphia, and Baltimore." 

"You do not include Boston, I perceive, sir." 

" Of Boston I say nothing. They take the mind hard there, 
and we had better let such a state of things alone. But as re- 
spects a man or Avoman of leisure, a man or woman of taste, a 
man or woman of refinement generally, I am willing enough to 
admit that, cccteris 2Mribus, each can find far more enjoyment 
in Europe than in America. But the philosopher, the philan- 
thropist, the political economist — in a word, the patriot, may 
well exult in such elements of profound national superiority as 
may be found in America." 

" I hope these elements are not so profound but they can be 
dug up at need, uncle Ro ?" 

" There will be little ditli^ilty in doing that, my boy. Look 



TIIEUEDSKINS. 31 

at the equality of the laws, to begin with. They arc made on 
the principles of natural justice, and are intended for the bene 
fit of society — for the poor as well as the rich." 

"Are they also intended for the rich as well as the poor?" 

" Well, I will grant you, a slif.^ht blemish is beginning to ap- 
pear, in that particular. It is a failing incidental to humanity, 
and we must not expect perfection. There is certainly a slight 
disposition to legislate for numbers, in order to obtain support 
at the polls, which has made the relation of debtor and creditor 
a little insecure, possibly ; but prudence can easily get along 
with that. It is erring on the right side, is it not, to favor the 
poor instead of the rich, if either is to be preferred ?" 

"Justice would favor neither, but treat all alike. I have 
always heard that the tyranny of numbers was the worst tyran- 
ny in the world." 

** Perhaps it is, where there is actually tyranny, and for a 
very obvious reason. One tyrant is sooner satisfied than a 
million, and has even a greater sense of responsibility. I can 
easily conceive that the Czar himself, if disposed to be a tyrant, 
which I am far from thinking to be the case with Nicholas, 
might hesitate about doing that, under his undivided responsi- 
bility, which one of our majorities would do, without even 
being conscious of the oppression it exercised, or caring at all 
about it. But, on the whole, Ave do little of the last, and not 
in the least enouo-h to counterbalance the immense advantag^es 
of the system." 

" I have heard very discreet men say that the worst symp- 
tom of our system is the gradual decay of justice among us. 
The judges have lost most of their influence, and the jurors are 
getting to be law-makers, as well as law-breakers." 

" There is a good deal of truth in that, I will acknowledge, 
also ; and you hear it asked constantly, in a case of any in- 
terest, not which party is in the right, but ^oho is on the jury. 
But I contend for no perfection ; all I say is, that the country 
is a glorious country, and that you and I have every reason to 
be proud that old Hugh lloger, our predecessor and namesake, 



32 T II E R E D S K I N S . 

saw fit to transplant Limself into it, a century and a lialf 
since." 

" I dare say now, uncle Ro, it would strike most Europeans 
as singular that a man should be proud of having been born an 
American — Manhattanese, as you and I both were." 

"All that may be true, for there have been calculated at- 
tempts to bring us into discredit of late, by harping on the 
failure of certain states to pay the interest on their debts. But 
all that is easily answered, and more so by you and me as New 
Yorkers. There is not a nation in Europe that would pay its 
interest, if those who are taxed to do so had the control of these 
taxes, and the power to say whether they were to be levied or 
not." 

"I do not sec how that mends the matter. These countries 
tell us that such is the effect of your system there, while we arc 
too honest to allow such a system to exist in this part of the 
world." 

" Pooh ! all gammon, that. They prevent the existence of 
our system for very different reasons, and they coerce the pay- 
ment of the interest on their debts that they may borrow more. 
This business of repudiation, as it is called, however, has been 
miserably misrepresented ; and there is no answering a false- 
hood by an argument. No American state has repudiated its 
debt, that I know of, though several have been unable to meet 
their engagements as they have fallen due." 

** Unable, uncle Ro ?" 

"Yes, unable — that is the precise word. Take Pennsylva- 
nia, for instance ; that is one of the richest communities in the 
civilized world ; its coal and iron alone would make any coun- 
try affluent, and a portion of its agricultural population is one 
of the most affluent I know of. Nevertheless, Pennsylvania, 
OAving to a concurrence of events, could not pay the interest on 
her debt for two years and a half, though she is doing it now, 
and will doubtless continue to do it. The sudden breaking 
down of that colossal moneyed institution, the soi-disant Bank 
of the United States, after it ceased to be in reality a bank of 



THE REDSKINS. 33 

the government, brought about sucli a state of llie circulation 
as rendered payment, by any of tbe ordinary means known to 
government, impossible. I know what I say, and repeat im- 
possible. It is Avell known that many persons, accustomed to 
affluence, had to carry their plate to the mint, in order to ob- 
tain money to go to market. Then something may be attrib- 
uted to the institutions, without disparaging a people's honesty. 
Our institutions are popular, just as those of France are the 
reverse ; and the people, they who were on the spot — the home 
creditor, with his account unpaid, and with his friends and 
relatives in the legislature, and present to aid him, contended 
for his own money, before any should be sent abroad." 

"Was that exactly right, sir?" 

" Certainly not ; it was exactly wrong, but very particularly 
natural. Do you suppose the king of France would not take 
the money for his civil list, if circumstances should compel the 
country to suspend on the debt for a year or two, or the minis- 
ters their salaries ? My word for it, each and all of them would 
prefer themselves as creditors, and act accordingly. Every one 
of these countries has suspended in some form or other, and in 
many instances balanced the account with the sponge. Their 
clamor against us is altogether calculated with a view to politi- 
cal effect." 

"Still, I wish Pennsylvania, for instance, had continued to 
pay, at every hazard." 

" It is well enough to wish, Hugh; but it is wishing for an 
impossibility. Then you and T, as New Yorkers, have nothing 
to do with the debt of Pennsylvania, no more than London 
would have to do with the debt of Dublin or Quebec. We 
have always paid our interest, and, what is more, paid it more 
honestly, if honesty be the point, than even England has paid 
here. When our banks suspended, the state paid its interest in 
as much paper as would buy the specie in open market ; whereas 
England made paper legal tender, and paid the interest on her 
debt in it for something like five-and-twenty years, and, that, 
too, when her paper was at a large discount. I knew of one 



34 TIIEKEDSKINS. 

American wlio lield near a million of dollars in the English debt, 
on which he had to take unconvertible paper for the interest 
for a long series of years. No, no ! this is all gammon, Hugh, 
and is not to be regarded as making us a whit worse than our 
neighbors. The equality of our laws is the foct in which I 
glory !" 

" If the rich stood as fair a chance as the poor, uncle Ro." 

" There is a screw loose there, I must confess ; but it amounts 
to no great matter." 

" Then the late bankrupt law ?" 

"Ay, that was an infernal procedure — that much I will ac- 
knowledge, too. It was special legislation enacted to pay par- 
ticular debts, and the law was repealed as soon as it had done 
its duty. That is a much darker spot in our history than what 
is called repudiation, though perfectly honest men voted for it." 

" Did you ever hear of a farce they got up about it at New 
York, just after we sailed ?" 

"Never; what was it, Hugh? thougli American plays arc 
pretty much all farces." 

" This Avas a little better than common, and, on the whole, 
really clever. It is the old story of Faust, in which a young 
spendthrift sells himself, soul and body, to the devil. On a 
certain evening, as he is making merry Avith a set of wild com- 
panions, his creditor amves, and, insisting on seeing the mas- 
ter, is admitted by the servant. He comes on, club-footed and 
behorned, as usual, and betailed, too, I believe ; but Tom is not 
to be scared by trifles. He insists on his guest's being seated, 
on his taking a glass of wine, and then on Dick's finishing his 
song. But, though the rest of the company had signed no bonds 
to Satan, they had certain outstanding book-debts, which made 
them excessively uncomfortable ; and the odor of brimstone 
being rather strong, Tom arose, approached his guest, and de- 
sired to know the nature of the particular business he had men- 
tioned to his servant. ' This bond sir,' said Satan, significantly. 
' This bond ? Avhat of it, pray ? It seems all right.' Is not that 
your signature ;' ' I admit it." ' Signed in your blood ?' 'A 



TJIE REDSKINS. ^35 

conceit of your own ; I told you at the time tliat ink was just 
us good in law.' ' It is past due, seven minutes and fourteen 
seconds.' ' So it is, I declare ! but what of that ?' * I demand 
payment.' 'Nonsense! no one thinks of paying nowadays. 
AVhy, even Pennsylvania and Maryland don't pay.' ' I insist 
on payment.' 'Oh! you do, do you?' Tom draws a paper 
from his pocket, and adds, magnificently, ' There, then, if 
you're so urgent — there is a discharge under the new bankrupt 
la,w, signed Smith Thonij)son.' This knocked the devil into a 
cocked-hat at once." 

My uTJcle laughed heartily at my story ; but, instead of ta- 
kingthe matter as I had fancied he might, it made him think 
better of the country than ever. 

" AVell, Hugh, we have wit among us, it must be confessed," 
he cried, with the tears running down his cheeks, "if we have 
some rascally laws, and some rascals to administer them. But 
here comes Jacob with his letters and pa2>ers — I declare, the 
fellow has a large basketful." 

Jacob, a highly respectable black, and the great-grandson of 
an old negro named Jaaf, or Yop, Avho was then living on my 
own estate at Ravcnsnest, had just then entered, with the por- 
ter and himself lugging in the basket in question. There were 
several hundred newspapers, and quite a hundred letters. The 
sight brought home and America clearly and vividly before us ; 
and having nearly finished the dessert, w'e rose to look at the 
packages. It was no small task to sort our mail, there being 
so many letters and packages to be divided. 

" Here are some newspapers I never saw before," said my 
uncle, as he tumbled over the pile ; " ' The Guardian of the 
Soil' — that must have something to do with Oregon." 

" I dare say it has, sir. Here are at least a dozen letters from 
my sister." 

" Ay, ijour sister is single, and can still think of her brother; 
but mine arc married, and one letter a year would be a great 
deal. This is my dear old mother's hand, however ; that is 
something. Ursula Malbonc Avould never forget her child. 



36 



THE REDSKINS, 



Well, hon soir, Ilugli. Eacli of us Las enougli to do for one 
evening." 

^^ Au revoir, sir. We shall meet at ten to-morrow, when we 
can compare our news, and exchange gossip." 




THE REDSKINS. 



y? 



CHAPTER II. 

" Wby droops my lord, like ovcr-riponed corn, 
Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load ?" 

KiN(i IIenuy VI. 

I DID not get into my bed tliat night until two, nor was I out 
of it until half-past nine. It was near eleven when Jacob came 
to tell me his master was in the salle d manger, and ready to 
cat his breakfast. .1 hastened up stairs, sleeping in the entresol, 
and was at table with ray uncle in three minutes. I observed, 
on entering, that he was very grave, and I now perceived that a 
couple of letters, and several American newspapers, lay near 
him. His " Good-morrow, Hugh," was kind and affectionate 
as usual, but I fancied it sad. 

" No bad news from home, I hope, sir ?" I exclaimed, undei 
the first impulse of feeling. " Martha's last letter is of quite 
recent date, and she writes very cheerfully. I knoio that my 
grandmother was perfectly well, six weeks since." 

" I know the same, Hugh, for I have a letter from herself, 
written with her own blessed hand. My mother is in excellent 
health for a woman of fourscore ; but she naturally w-ishes to 
see us, and you in particular. Grandchildren are ever the pets 
with grandmothers." 

" I am glad to hear all this, sir ; for I was really afraid, 
on entering the room, that you had received some unpleasant 
news." 

" And is all your news pleasant, after so long a silence ?" 

" Nothing that is disagreeable, I do assure you. Patt writes 
\\\ charming spirits, and I dare say is in blooming beauty by 
this time, though she tells me that she is generally thought 



38 THE RED SKI K 5. 

ratlicr pluin. That is impossible ; for you know when we left 
her, at fifteen, she had every promise of great beauty." 

" As you say, it is impossible that Martha Littlepage should 
be any thing but handsome; for fifteen is an age when, in 
America, one may safely predict the woman's appearance. 
Your sister is preparing for you an agreeable surprise. I have 
lieard old persons say that she was very like my mother at the 
same time of life ; and Dus Malbone was a sort of toast once in 
the forest." 

" I dare say it is all as you think ; more especially as there 
are several allusions to a certain Harry Bcekman in her letters, 
at which I should feel flattered, were I in Mr. Harry's place. 
Do you happen to know any thing of such a family as the 
Beekmans, sir?" 

My uncle looked up in a little surprise at this question. A 
thorough New Yorker by birth, associations, alliances and feel- 
ings, he held all the old names of the colony and state in pro- 
found respect ; and I had often heard him sneer at the manner 
in which the new-comers of my day, who had appeared among 
us to blossom like the rose, scattered their odors through the 
land. It was but a natural thing that a community wliich had 
grown in population, in half a century, from half a million to 
two millions and a half, and that as much by immigration from 
adjoining communities as by natural increase, should undergo 
some change of feeling in this respect ; but, on the other 
hand, it was just as natural that the true New Yorker should 
not. 

"Of course you know, Hugh, that it is an ancient and re- 
spected name among us," answered my uncle, after he had 
given me the look of surprise I have already mentioned. 
"There is a branch of the Beekmans, or Bakemans, as we used 
to call them, settled near Satanstoe ; and I dare say that your 
sister, in her frequent visits to my mother, has met with them. 
The association would be but natural ; and the other feeling to 
which you allude is, I dare say, but natural to the association, 
though I cannot say I ever experienced it." 



THE U E D S K I N S . 89 

"You will still adhere to your asseverations of never having 
been the victim of Cupid, I find, sir." 

"Hugh, Hugh! let us trifle no more. There is news from 
home that has almost broken my lieart." 

I sat gazing at my uncle in wonder and alarm, while he 
phiced both his hands on his face, as if to exclude this wicked 
world, and all it contained, from his sight. I did not speak, 
for T saw that the old gentleman was really affected, but waited 
his pleasure to communicate more. My impatience was soon 
relieved, however, as the hands were removed, and I once 
more caught a view of my uncle's handsome, but clouded coun- 
tenance. 

"May I ask the nature of this news?" I then ventured to 
incpire. 

" You may, and I shall now tell you. It is propei", indeed, 
that you should hear all, and understand it all ; for you have a 
direct interest in the matter, and a large portion of your prop- 
erty is dependent on the result. Had not the manor troubles, 
as they were called, been spoken of before we left home ?" 

"Certainly, though not to any great extent. We saw some- 
thing of it in the papers, I remember, just before we went 
to Russia; and I recollect you mentioned it as a discredit- 
able affair to the state, though likely to lead to no very impoit- 
ant result." 

" So I then thought; but that hope has been delusive. There 
were some reasons why a population like ours should chafe un- 
der the situation of the estate of the late Patroon that I thought 
natural, though unjustifiable; for it is unhappily too much a 
law of humanity to do that which is wrong, more especially ir, 
matters connected with the pocket." 

"I do not exactly understand your allusions, sir." 

" It is easily explained. The Van Rensselaer property is, iu 
the first place, of great extent — the manor, as it is still called 
and once was, spreading east and west eight-and-forty miles, 
and north and south twenty-four. With a few immaterial ex- 
ceptions, including the sites of three or four towns, three of 



40 T II E U E D S K I N S . 

whicli are cities containing respectively six, twenty and forty 
thousand souls, this large surface was the property of a single 
individual. Since his death, it has become the property of two, 
subject to the conditions of the leases, of which by far the 
greater portion are what are called durable." 

" I have heard all this, of course, sir, and know something 
of it myself. But what is a durable lease ? for I believe we have 
none of that nature at Ravensnest." 

"No; your leases are all for three lives, and most of them 
renewals at that. There are two sorts of ' durable leases,' a^ 
we term them, in use among the landlords of New York. Both 
give the tenant a permanent interest, being leases forever, re- 
serving annual rent, with the right to distrain and covenants of 
re-entry. But one class of these leases gives the tenant a right 
at any time to demand a deed in fee-simple, on the payment of 
a stipulated sum ; while the other gives him no such privilege. 
Thus one class of these leases is called ' a durable lease with 
a clause of redemption;' while the other is a simple ' durable 
lease.' " 

"And are there any new difficulties in relation to the manor 
rents?" 

" Far worse than that ; the contagion has spread, until the 
greatest ills that have been predicted from democratic institu- 
tions, by their worst enemies, seriously menace the country. I 
am afraid, Hugh, I shall not be able to call New York, any 
longer, an exception to the evil example of a neighborhood, or 
the country itself a glorious country." 

" This is so serious, sir, that, were it not that your looks 
denote the contrary, I might be disposed to doubt your 
words." 

" I fear my words are only too true. Dunning has written 
me a long account of his own, made out with the precision of 
a lawyer ; and, in addition, he has sent me divers papers, some 
of vphich openly contend for what is substantially a new division 
of property, and what in effect would beagx-arian laws." 

"Surely, my dear uncle, you cannot seiiously apprehend anv 



T n E R E D S K I N S . 4X 

tiling of that nature from our order-loving, law-loving, property- 
loving Americans !" 

" Your last description may contain the secret of the whole 
movement. The love of property may be so strong as to in 
duce them to do a great many things they ought not to do. I 
certainly do not apprehend that any direct attempt is about to 
be made in New York, to divide its property ; nor do I fear 
ai;iy open, declared agrarian statute ; for what I apprehend is to 
come through indirect and gradual innovations on the right, 
that will be made to assume the delusive aspect of justice and 
equal rights, and thus undermine the principles of the people, 
before they are aware of the danger themselves. In order that 
you may not only understand me, but may understand facts 
that are of the last importance to your own pockets, I will first 
tell you what has been done, and then tell you what I fear is to 
follow. The first diflBculty — or, rather, the first difficulty of 
recent occurrence — arose at the death of the late Patroon. I 
say of recent occurrence, since Dunning writes me that, during 
the administration of John Jay, an attempt to resist the pay- 
ment of rent was made on the manor of the Livingstons ; but 
he put it down instantei:" 

"Yes, I should rather think that roguery would not be apt 
to prosper, while the execution of the laws was entrusted to 
such a man. The age of such politicians, however, seems to 
have ended among us." 

"It did not prosper. Governor Jay met the pretension as 
we all know such a man would meet it ; and the matter died 
away, and has been nearly forgotten. It is worthy of remark, 
that he put the evil down. But this is not the age of John 
Jays. To proceed to my narrative: when the late Patroon 
died, there was due to him a sum of something like two hun- 
dred thousand dollars of back-rents, and of which he had made 
a special disposition in his will, vesting the money in trustees 
for a certain purpose. It Avas the attempt to collect this money 
which first gave rise to dissatisfaction. Those Avho had been 
debtors so long, were reluctant to pay. In casting round for 



S2 TIIEREDSKINS. 

tlie means to escape from the payment of their just debts, these 
men, feeling the power that numbers ever give over right in 
America, combined to resist with others Avho again had in view 
a project to get rid of the rents altogether. Out of this com- 
bination grew what have been called the ' manor troubles.' Men 
appeared in a sort of mock-Indian dress, calico shirts thrown 
over their other clothes, and with a species of calico masks on 
their faces, who resisted the bailiffs' processes, and completely 
prevented the collection of rents. These men were armed, 
mostly Avith rifles ; and it w^as finally found necessary to call 
out a strong body of the militia, in order to protect the civil 
officers in the execution of their duties." 

" All this occurred before we Avent to the East. I had sup- 
posed those anti-renters, as they were called, had been effec- 
tually put down." 

" In appearance they Avere. But the very governor Avho 
called the militia into the field, referred the subject of the 
'■griefs' of the tenants to the legislature, as if they were actually 
aggrieved citizens, Avhen in truth it Avas the landlords, or the 
Rensselaers — for at that time the * troubles' were confined to 
their property — Avho Avere the aggi-ieved parties. This false step 
has done an incalculable amount of mischief, if it do not prove 
the entering wedge to rive asunder the institutions of the state." 

" It is extraordinary, Avhen such things occur, that any man 
can mistake his duty. Why were the tenants thus spoken of, 
Avhile nothing was said beyond Avhat the law compelled in favor 
of the landlords ?" 

" I can see no reason but the fact that the Rensselaers Avere 
only tAvo, and that the disaffected tenants were probably two 
thousand. AVith all the cry of aristocracy, and feudality, and 
nobility, neither of the Rensselaers, by the letter of the laAV, has 
one particle more of political poAvcr, or political right, than his 
OAVu coachman or footman, if the last be a Avhite man ; AvLile, 
in practice, he is in many things getting to be less protected." 

" Then you think, sir, that this matter has gained force from 
the circumstance that so many votes depend on it V 



Til E RE D SK I N S . 43 

" Out of all question. Its success depends on tlie viohitions 
of principles that we have been so long taught to hold sacred, 
that nothing short of the overruling and corrupting influence 
of politics would dare to assail them. If there were a landlord 
to each farm, as well as a tenant, universal indifference would 
prevail as to the griefs of the tenants ; and if two to one tenant, 
universal indignation at their impudence." 

'" Of what particular griefs do the tenants complain ?" 

"You mean the Rensselaer tenants, I suppose? Why, they 
complain of such covenants as they can, though their deepest 
affliction is to be found in the fact that they do not own other 
men's lands. The Patroon had quarter-sales on many of his 
farms — those that were let in the last centurj^" 

"Well, what of that? A bargain to allow of quarter-sales 
is just as fair as any other bargain." 

"It is fairer, in fact, than most bargains, when you come to 
analyze it, since there is a very good reason why it should ac- 
company a perpetual lease. Is it to be supposed that a land- 
lord has no interest in the character and habits of his tenants ? 
He has the closest interest in it possible, and no prudent man 
should let his lands without holding some sort of control over 
the assignment of leases. Now, there are but two modes of 
doing this ; cither by holding over the tenant a power through 
his interests, or a direct veto dependent solely on the landlord's 
will." 

" The last would be apt to raise a pretty cry of tyranny and 
feudality in America !" 

" Pretty cries on such subjects are very easily raised in 
America. More people join in them than understand what 
they mean. Nevertheless, it is quite as just, when two men 
bargain, that he who owns every right in the land before the 
bargain is made, should retain this right over his property, 
wliich he consents to part with only with limitations, as that 
ho should grant it to another. These men, in their clamor, 
forget that, until their leases were obtained, they had no right 
ill their lands at all, and that what they have got is through 



44 TIIEREDSKINS. 

those very leases of wliicli tliey complain ; take away the 
leases, and they would have no rights remaining. Now, on 
what principle can honest men pretend that they have rights 
beyond the leases ? On the supposition, even, that the bargains 
are hard, what have governors and legislators to do with thrust- 
ing themselves in between parties so situated, as special um- 
pires? I should object to such umpires, moreover, on the 
general and controlling principle that must govern all righteous 
arbitration — your governors and legislators are not impartial ; 
they are political or party men, one may say, without excep- 
tion ; and such umpires, when votes are in the question, are to 
be sorely distrusted. I would as soon trust my interests to the 
decision of feed counsel, as trust them to such judges." 

" I wonder the really impartial and upright portion of 
the community do not rise in their might, and put this thing 
down — rip it up, root and branch, and cast it away, at once." 

" That is the weak point of our system, which has a hundred 
strong points, while it has this besetting vice. Our laws are 
not only made, but they are administered, on the supposition 
that there are both honesty and intelligence enough in the 
body of the community to see them tvell made, and well ad- 
ministered. But the sad reality shows that good men are com- 
monly passive, until abuses become intolerable ; it being the 
designing rogue and manager who is usually the most active. 
Vigilant philanthropists do exist, I will allow ; but it is in such 
small numbers as to effect little on the whole, and nothing at all 
when opposed by the zeal of a mercenary opposition. No, no 
— little is ever to be expected, in a political sense, from the 
activity of virtue ; while a great deal may be looked for from 
the activity of vice." 

" You do not take a very favorable view of humanity, 
sir." 

'* I speak of the world as I have found it in both hemi- 
spheres, or, as your neighbor the magistrate 'Squire Newcorae 
has it, the 'four hemispheres.' Our representation is, at the 
best, but an average of the qualities of the whole community, 



THE REDSKINS. 45 

Eomewliat lessened by the fact that men of real merit have, taken 
a disgust at a state of things tliat is not very tempting to their 
habits or tastes. As for a quarter-sale, 1 can see no more hard- 
ship in it than there is in paying the rent itself ; and, by giving 
the landlord this check on the transfer of his lands, he compels 
a compromise that maintains what is just. The tenant is not 
obliged to sell, and he makes his conditions accordingly, Avhcn 
he has a good tenant to offer in his stead. When he offers a 
bad tenant, he ought to pay for it." 

" Many persons with us would think it very aristocratic," 
I cried, laughingly, "that a landlord should have it in his 
power to say, I will not accept this or that substitute for your- 
self." 

"It is just as aristocratic, and no more so, than it would be 
to put it in the power of the tenant to say to the landlord, you 
shdll accept this or that tenant at my hands. The covenant 
of the quarter-sale gives each party a control in the matter ; and 
the result has ever been a compromise that is perfectly fair, as 
it is hardly possible that the circumstance should have been 
overlooked in making the bargain ; and he Avho knows any 
thing of such matters, knows that every exaction of this sort is 
always considered in the rent. As for feudality, so long as the 
power to alienate exists at all in the tenant, he does not hold 
by a feudal tenure. He has bought himself from all such 
tenures by his covenant of quarter-sale ; and it only remains to 
say whether, having agreed to such a bargain in order to obtain 
this advantage, he should pay the stipulated price or not." 

" I understand you, sir. It is easy to come at the equity of 
this matter, if one will only go back to the original facts which 
color it. The tenant had no rights at all until he got his lease, 
and can have no rights which that lease does not confer." 

" Then the cry is raised of feudal privileges, because some o\ 
the Ilensselaer tenants are obliged to find so many days' wort 
with their teams, or substitutes, to the landlord, and even be- 
cause they have to pay annually a pair of fat fowls ! We have 
seen enough of America, Hugh, to know that most husband- 



46 THEllEDSKINS. 

men would be deliglited to have the privilege of paying their 
debt in chickens and work, instead of in money, which renders 
the cry only so much the more wicked. But what is there 
more feudal in a tenant's thus paying his landlord, than in a 
butcher's contracting to furnish so much meat for a series of 
years, or a mail contractor's agreeing to carry the mail in a 
four-horse coach for a term of years, eh ? No one objects to 
the rent in wheat, and why should they object to the rent in 
chickens? Is it because our republican farmers have got to be 
so aristocratic themselves, that they do not like to be thought 
poulterers ? This is being aristocratic on the other side. These 
dignitaries should remember that if it be plebeian to furnish 
fowls, it is plebeian to receive them; and if the tenant has to 
find an individual who has to submit to the degradation of ten- 
dering a pair of fat fowls, the landlord has to find an individual 
who has to submit to the degradation of taking them, and of 
putting them away in the larder. It seems to me that one is 
an offset to the other." 

"But, if I remember rightly, uncle Eo, these little matters 
were always commuted for in money." 

"They always must lie at the option of the tenant, unless the 
covenants went to forfeiture, which I never heard that they did; 
for the failure to pay in kind at the time stipulated, would only 
involve a payment in money afterward. The most surprising 
part of this whole transaction is, that men among us hold the 
doctrine that these leasehold estates are opposed to our institu- 
tions, when, being guaranteed hy the institutions, they in truth 
form a part of them. AVere it not for these very institutions, 
to which they are said to be opposed, and of which they virtu- 
ally form a part, Ave should soon have a pretty kettle of fish be- 
tween landlord and tenant." 

" How do you make it out that they form a part of the insti- 
tutions, sir?" 

" Simply because the institutions have a solemn profession 
of protecting property. There is such a parade of this, that all 
our constitutions declare that property shall never be taken 



TIIEREDSKINS. 47 

without due form of law ; and to read one of tlieni, you would 
think the property of the citizen is held quite as sacred as his 
person. Now, some of these very tenures existed when the 
state institutions were framed ; and, not satisfied Avith this, we 
of New York, in common with our sister states, solemnly pro- 
hibited ourselves, in the constitution of the United States, from 
ever meddling with them ; nevertheless, men are found hardy 
enough to assert that a thing which in fact belongs to the insti- 
tutions, is opposed to them." 

" Perhaps they mean, sir, to their spirit, or to their tend- 
ency." 

" Ah ! there may be some sense in that, though much less 
than the declaimers fancy. The spirit of institutions is their 
legitimate object ; and it would be hard to prove that a lease- 
hold tenure, with any conditions of mere pecuniary indebted- 
ness whatever, is opposed to any institutions that recognize the 
full rights of property. The obligation to pay rent no more 
creates political dependency, than to give credit from an ordi- 
nary shop ; not so much, indeed, more especially under such 
leases as those of the Eensselaers ; for the debtor on a book-debt 
can be sued at any moment, whereas the tenant knows precisely 
when he has to pay. There is the great absurdity of those who 
decry the system as feudal and aristocratic ; for they do not 
see that those very leases are more fovorablc to the tenant than 
any other." 

" I shall have to ask you to explain this to nic, sir, being too 
ignorant to comprehend it." 

"Why, these leases are perpetual, and the tenant cannot be 
dispossessed. The longer a lease is, other things being equal, 
the better it is for the tenant, all the world over. Let us sup- 
pose two farms, the one leased for five years, and the other forever. 
Which tenant is most independent of the political influence of 
his landlord, to say nothing of the impossibility of controlling 
votes in this way in America, from a variety of causes ? 
Certainly he who has a lease forever. He is just as indepen- 
dent of his landlord as his landlord can be of him, with tho 



48 T II E K E D S K I N S . 

exception that he has rent to pay. In the hitter case, he is 
precisely hke any other debtor — like the poor man who con- 
tracts debts with the same storekeeper for a series of years. 
As for the possession of the farm, which we are to suppose is a 
desirable thing for the tenant, he of the long lease is clearly 
most independent, since the other may be ejected at the end 
of each five years. Nor is there the least difference as to ac- 
quirmg the property in fee, since the landlord may sell equally 
in either case, if so disposed ; and if not disposed, no honest 

MAN, UNDER ANY SYSTEM, OUGHT TO DO ANY THING TO COMPEL 

HIM SO TO DO, directly or indirectly ; and no truly honest 

MAN would." 

I put some of the words of my uncle Ro in small capitals, as 
the spirit of the times, not of the institutions, renders such hints 
necessary. But, to continue our dialogue : 

" I understand you now, sir, though the distinction you make 
between the spirit of the institutions and their tendencies is what 
I do not exactly comprehend." 

"It is very easily explained. The spirit of the institutions 
is their intention; their tendencies are the natural direction they 
take under the impulses of human motives, which are always 
cornipt and corrupting. The ' spirit' refers to what things 
ought to be ; the ' tendencies,' to what they are, or are becom- 
ing. The ' spirit' of all political institutions is to place a check 
on the natural propensities of men, to restrain them, and keep 
them within due bounds ; while the tendencies follow those 
propensities, and are quite often in direct opposition to the 
spirit. That this outcry against leasehold tenures in America 
is following the tendencies of our institutions, I am afraid is 
only too true ; but that it is in any manner in compliance Avith 
their spirit, I utterly deny." 

" You will allow that institutions have their spirit, which 
ouo-ht always to be respected, in order to preserve harmony ?" 

" Out of all question. The first great requisite of a political 
system is the means of protecting itself; the second, to check 
its tendencies at the point required by justice, wisdom and 



TIIEUEDrfKINS. 49 

good faith. In a despotism, for instance, tlie spirit of tlie 
system is, to maintain thJlt one man, who is elevated above the 
necessities and temptations of a nation — who is sdlemnly set 
apart for the sole purpose of government, fortified by dignity, 
and rendered impartial by position — will rule in the manner 
most conducive to the true interests of his subjects. It is just 
as much the theory of Ru'-sia and Prussia that their monarchs 
reign not for their own good, but for the good of those over 
whom they are placed, as it is the theory in regard to the pres- 
ident of the United States. We all know that the tendencies 
of a despotism are to abuses of a particular character ; and it is 
just as certain that the tendencies of a republic, or rather of a 
democratic republic — for republic of itself means but little, 
many republics having had kings — but it is just as certain that 
the tendencies of a democracy are to abuses of another charac- 
ter. Whatever man touches, he infallibly abuses ; and this more 
in connection with the exercise of political power, perhaps, than 
in the management of any one interest of life, though he abuses 
all, even to religion. Less depends on the nominal character 
of institutions, perhaps, than on their ability to arrest their 
own tendencies at the point required by every thing that is just 
and right. Hitherto, surprisingly few grave abuses have fol- 
lowed from our institutions ; but this matter looks frightfully 
serious; for I have not told yon half, Hugh." 

" Indeed, sir ! I beg you will believe me quite equal to 
hearing the worst." 

"It is true, anti-rentism did commence on the estate of the 
Eensselaers, and with complaints of feudal tenures, and of days' 
works, and fat fowls, backed by the extravagantly aristocratic 
pretension that a * manor' tenant was so much a privileged 
being, that it was beneath his <lignity, as a free man, to do that 
which is daily done by mail-contractors, stage-coach ownei-s, 
victuallers, and even by themselves in their passing bargains to 
deliver potatoes, onions, turkeys and pork, although they had 
solemnly covenanted with their landlords to pay the fat fowls, 
•ind to give the days' works. The feudal system has been found 
3 



50 T II E K E D S K I N S . 

to extend mucli further, and 'troubles,' as tliey are called, have 
brolcen out in other parts of the statet Resistance to process, 
and a cessation of the payment of rents, have occurred on the 
Livingston property, in Hardenberg — in short, in eight or ten 
counties of the state. Even among the bona fide purchasers, 
on the Holland Purchase, this resistance has been organized, 
and a species of troops raised, who appear disguised and 
armed wherever a levy is to be made. Several men have 
already been murdered, and there is the strong probability of a 
civil war." 

"In the name of what is sacred and right, what has the gov- 
ernment of the state been doing all this time ?" 

" In my poor judgment, a great deal that it ought not to 
have done, and very little that it ought. You know the state 
of politics at home, Hugh ; how important New York is in all 
national questions, and how nearly tied is her vote — less than 
ten thousand majority in a canvass of near half a million of 
votes. When this is the case, the least-principled part of the 
voters attain an undue importance — a truth that has been abun- 
dantly illustrated in this question. The natural course would 
have been to raise an armed constabulary force, and to have 
kept it in motion, as the anti-renters have kept their ' Injins' 
in motion, which would have soon tired out the rebels, for 
rebels they are, who would thus have had to support one army 
in part, and the other altogether. Such a movement on the 
part of the state, well and energetically managed, would have 
drawn half the 'Injins' at once from the ranks of disaffection to 
those of authority ; for all that most of these men want is to 
live easy, and to have a parade of military movements. Instead 
of that, the legislature substantially did nothing, until blood 
was spilt, and the grievance had got to be not only profoundly 
disgraceful for such a state and such a country, but utterly 
intolerable to the well-affected of the revolted counties, as well 
as to those who were kept out of the enjoyment of their prop- 
erty. Then, indeed, it passed the law which ought to have 
been passed the first year of the ' Injin' system — a law which 



THE UE U SKI NS. 51 

renders it felony to appear armed and disguised; but Dunning 
writes me this law is openly disregarded in Delaware and Scho- 
harie, in particular, and that bodies of 'Injins,' in full costume 
and armed, of a thousand men, have appeared to prevent levies 
or sales. Where it will end, Heaven knows !" 

'* Do you apprehend any serious civil war ?" 

"It is impossible to say where false principles may lead, 
when they are permitted to make head and to become widely 
disseminated, in a country like ours. Still, the disturbances, 
as such, are utterly contemptible, and could and would be put 
down by an energetic executive in ten days after he had time 
to collect a force to do it with. In some particulars, the pres- 
ent incumbent has behaved perfectly well; while in others, 
in my judgment, he has inflicted injuries on the right that it 
will require years to repair, if, indeed, they are ever repaired." 

"You surprise me, sir; and this the more especially, as I 
know you are generally of the same way of thinking, on political 
subjects, with the party that is now in power." 

" Did you ever know me to support what I conceived to be 
wrong, Hugh, on account of my political affinities?" asked my 
imclc, a little reproachfully as to manner. "But let me tell 
you the harm that I conceive has been done by all the gover- 
nors who have had any thing to do with the subject ; and that 
includes one of a party to which I am opposed, and two that 
are not. In the first place, they have all treated the matter as 
if the tenants had really some cause of complaint; when in 
truth all their griefs arise from the fact that other men Avill not 
let them have their property just as they may want it, and in 
some respects on their own terras." 

" That is certainly a grief not to be maintained by reason in 
a civilized country, and in a Christian community." 

"Umph! Christianity, like libert}'-, suffers fearfully in liuman 
liands; one is sometimes at a loss to recognize either. I have 
seen ministers of the gospel just as dogged, just as regardless 
of general morality, and just as indifferent to the right, in up- 
holding their parties, as I ever saw laymen; and I have seen 



52 TIIEREDSKINS. 

laymen manifesting tempers, in this respect, that ' properly 
belong to devils. But our governors have certainly treated this 
matter as if the tenants actually had griefs ; Avhen in truth their 
sole oppression is in being obliged to pay rents that are merely 
nominal, and in not being able to buy other men's property 
contrary to their wishes, and very much at their own prices. 
One governor has even been so generous as to volunteer a mode 
of settling disputes with which, by the way, he has no concern, 
there being courts to discharge that office, that is singularly 
presuming on his part, to say ^he least, and Avhich looks a con- 
founded sight more like aristocracy, or monarchy, than any 
thing connected with leasehold tenure." 

" Why, what can the man have done ?'' 

" He has kindly taken on himself the office of doing that for 
which I fancy he can find no authority in the institutions, or in 
their spirit — no less than advising citizens how they may con- 
veniently manage their own affairs so as to get over difficulties 
that he himself substantially admits, while giving this very ad- 
vice, are difficulties that the law sanctions ?" 

" This is a very extraordinary interference in a public func- 
tionary ; because one of the parties to a contract that is solemnly 
guaranteed by the law, chooses to complain of its nature^ rather 
than of its conditions, to pretend to throw the weight of his even 
assumed authority into the scales on either side of the question !" 

" And that in a popular government, Hugh, in Avhich it tells 
so strongly against a man to render him unpopular, that not 
one man in a million has the moral courage to resist public 
opinion, even when he is right. You have hit the nail on the 
head, boy ; it is in the last degree presuming, and what would 
be denounced as tyrannical in any monarch in Europe. But 
he has lived in vain who has not learned that they who make 
the loudest professions of a love of liberty, have little knowl- 
edge of the quality, beyond submission to the demands of num- 
bers. Our executive has carried his fatherly care even beyond 
this ; he has actually suggested the terms of a bargain by which 
he thinks the difficulty can be settled, which, in addition to tho 



THE REDSKINS. 53 

gross assumption of having a voice in a matter that in no man- 
ner belongs to him, has the palpable demerit of recommending 
a pecuniary compromise that is flagrantly wrong as a mere 
pecuniary compromise." 

"You astonish me, sir! ^Vhat is the precise nature of his 
recommendation !" 

"That the Rensselaers should receive such a sum from each 
tenant as would produce an interest equal to the value of the 
the present rent. Now, in the first place, here is a citizen who 
has got as much property as he wants, and who wishes to live 
for other purposes than to accumulate. This property is not 
only invested to his entire satisfoction, as regards convenience, 
security and returns, but also in a way that is connected with 
some of the best sentiments of his nature. It is property that 
has descended to him through ancestors for two centuries; 
property that is historically connected with his name — on which 
he was born, on which he has lived, and on which he has hoped 
to die ; property, in a word, that is associated with all the 
higher feelings of humanity. Because some interloper, perhaps, 
who has purchased an interest in one of his farms six months 
before, feels an aristocratic desire not to have a landlord, and 
wishes to own a farm in fee, that in fact he has no other right 
to than he gets through his lease, the governor of the great 
state of New York throws the weight of his official position 
against the old hereditary owner of the soil, by solemnly sug- 
gesting, in an official document that is intended to produce an 
effect on public opinion, that he should sell that which he does 
not wish to sell, but wishes to keep, and that at a price which I 
conceive is much below its true pecuniary value. We have 
liberty with a vengeance, if these are some of its antics !" 

" What makes the matter worse, is the fact that each of the 
Rensselaers has a house on his estate, so placed as to be con- 
venient to look after his interest; which interests he is to be at 
the trouble of changing, leaving him his house on his hands, 
because, forsooth, one of the parties to a plain and equitable 
bargain wishes to make better conditions than he convenantcd 



64 T n E R E D S K I N S . 

for. I wonder AvLat his excellency proposes that the landlords 
shall do with their money when^liey get it ? Buy new estates, 
and build new houses, of which to be dispossessed when a neAV 
set of tenants may choose to cry out against aristocracy, and 
demonstrate their own love for democracy by wishing to pull 
others down in order to shove themselves into their places?" 

"You are right again, Hugh; but it is a besetting vice of 
America to regard life as all means, and as having no end, in a 
Avorldly point of view. I dare say men may be found among 
us who regard it as highly presuming in any man to build him- 
self an ample residence, and to announce by his mode of living 
that he is content with his present means, and does not wish 
to increase them, at the very moment they view the suggestions 
of the governor as the pink of modesty, and excessively favor- 
able to equal rights ! I like that thought of yours about the 
house, too ; in order to suit the ' spirit' of the New York insti- 
tutions, it would seem that a New York landlord should build 
on wheels, that he may move his abode to some new estate, 
when it suits the pleasure of his tenants to buy him out." 

" Do you suppose the Rensselaers would take their money, 
the principal of the rent at seven per cent., and buy land with 
it, after their experience of the uncertainty of such possessions 
among us?" 

"Not they," said my uncle Ro, laughing. " No, no ! they 
Avould sell the Manor-House, and Beverwyck, for taverns ; and 
then any one might live in them who would pay the principal 
sum of the cost of a dinner ; bag their dollars, and proceed 
forthwith to Wall street, and commence the shaving of notes — 
that occupation having been decided, as I see by the late arri- 
vals, to be highly honorable and praiseworthy. Hitherto they 
have been nothing but drones ; but, by the time they can go to 
the quick with their dollars, they will become useful members 
of society, and be honored and esteemed accordingly." 

"What next might have been said I do not know, for just then 
we were interrupted by a visit from our common banker, and 
the discourse was necessarily changed. 



THE REDSKINS. 56 



CHAPTER III. 

"Oh, wlion shall I visit the land of my birth, 
The loveliest land on the face of the earth ? 
When shall I those scenes of affection explore, 

Our forests, our fountains. 

Our hamlets, our mountains, 
VTiih the pride of our mountains, the maid I adoi'ef" 

MONTCOMEKT. 

It was truly news for an American, who had been so long 
cut off from intelligence from home, thus suddenly to be told 
that some of the scenes of the middle ages — scenes connected 
with real Avrongs and gross abuses of human rights — were about 
to be enacted in his own land ; that country which boasted 
itself, not only to be the asylum of the oppressed, but the con- 
scn^ator of the right. I was grieved at what I had heard, for, 
during my travels, I had cherished a much-loved image of 
justice and political excellence, that I now began to fear must 
be abandoned. My uncle and myself decided at once to return 
home, a step that indeed was required by prudence. I was 
now of an age to enter into the full possession of my own prop- 
erty (so far as " new laws and new lords" would permit) ; and 
the letters received by my late guardian, as well as certain 
newspapers, communicated the unpleasant fact that a great 
many of the tenants of Ravcnsnest had joined the association, 
paid tribute for the support of " Injins," and were getting to be 
as bad as any of the rest of them, so far as designs and schemes 
to plunder were concerned, though they still paid their rents. 
The latter circumstance was ascribed by our agent to the fact 
that many leases were about to fall in, and it would be in my 
power to substitute more honest and better disposed successors 
for the present occnpants of the several faiTns. Measures were 



50 T II E R E D S K I N S . 

taken accordingly for quitting Paris as soon as possible, so that 
we might reach home late in the month of May. 

"If we had time, I would certainly throw in a memorial or 
two to the legislature," observed my uncle, a day or two before 
we proceeded to Havre to join the packet. " I have a strong 
desire to protest against the invasion of my rights as a freeman 
that is connected with some of their contemplated laws. I do 
not at all like the idea of being abridged of the power of hiring 
a farm for the longest time I can obtain it, which is one of the 
projects of some of the ultra reformers of free and equal New 
York. It is wonderful, Hugh, into what follies men precipitate 
themselves as soon as they begin to run into exaggerations, 
whether of politics, religion, or tastes. Here are half of the 
exquisite philanthropists who see a great evil affecting the rights 
of human nature in one man's hiring a farm from another for as 
long a term as he can obtain it, who are at the very extreme in 
their opinions on free trade ! So free-trade are some of the 
journals which think it a capital thing to prevent landlords and 
tenants from making their own bargains, that they have actually 
derided the idea of having established fares for hackney-coaches, 
but that it would be better to let the parties stand in the rain and 
higgle about the price, on the free-trade principle. Some of 
these men are either active agents in stimulating the legislature 
to rob the citizen of this very simple control of his property, 
or passive lookers-on while others do it." 

"Votes, sir, votes." 

"It is indeed votes, sir, votes; nothing short. of votes could 
reconcile these men to their own inconsistencies. As for yom*- 
self, Hugh, it might be well to get rid of that canopied 
pew " 

"Of Avhat canopied pew? I am sure I do not understand 
you." 

"Do you forget that the fiunily-pew in St. Andiew's Church, 
at Ravensnest, has a wooden canopy over it — a relic of our 
colonial opinions and usages?" 

"Now you mention it, I do remember a very clumsy, and, 



TIIEREDSKINS. 57 

to own the truth, a very ugly thing, that I have always sup- 
posed was placed there, by those who built the church, by way 
of ornament." 

" That ugly thing, by way of ornament, was intended for a 
sort of canopy, and was by no means an uncommon distinction 
in the state and colony, as recently as the close of the last cen- 
tury. The church was built at the expense of my grandfather, 
General Littlepage, and his bosom friend and kinsman. Colonel 
Dirck Follock, both good Whigs and gallant defenders of the 
liberty of their countrJ^ They thought it proper that the 
Littlepages should have a canopied pew, and that is the state 
in which they caused the building to be presented to my father. 
The old work still stands ; and Dunning writes me that, among 
the other arguments used against your interests, is the fact that 
your pew is thus distinguished from those of the rest of the 
congregation." 

"It is a distinction no man would envy me, could it be 
known that I have ever thought the clumsy, ill-shaped thing a 
nuisance, and detestable as an ornament. I have never even 
associated it in my mind with personal distinction, but have 
always supposed it was erected with a view to embellish the 
building, and placed over our pew as the spot where such an 
excrescence would excite the least. envy." 

"In all that, with one exception, you have judged quite nat- 
urally. Forty years ago, such a thing might have been done, 
and a majority of the parishioners would have seen in it noth- 
ing out of place. But that day has gone by ; and you will 
discover that, on your own estate, and in the very things created 
by your family and yourself, you will actually have fewer rights 
of any sort, beyond those your money will purchase, than any 
man around you. The simple fact that St. Andrew's Church 
was built by your great-grandfather, and by him presented to 
the congregation, will diminish your claim to have a voice in 
its affairs, with many of the congregation." 

"This is so extraordinary, that I musk ask the reason." 

"The reason is connected with a principle so obviously be- 



58 TIIERKDSKINS. 

longing to liuman nature generally, and to American nature in 
particular, that I wonder you ask it. It is envy. Did that 
pew belong to the Newcomes, for instance, no one Avould think 
any thing of it." 

"Nevertheless, the Newcomes would make themselves ridic- 
ulous by sitting in a pew that was distinguished from those of 
their neighbors. The absurdity of the contrast would strike 
e\ery one." 

"And ft is precisely because the absurdity does not exist in 
your case, that your seat is envied. No one envies absurdity. 
However, you will readily admit, Hugh, that a church, and a 
church-yard, are the two last places in wliich human distinc- 
tions ought to be exhibited. All are equal in the eyes of Him 
we go to the one to worship, and all are equal in the grave. I 
have ever been averse to every thing like worldly distinction in 
a conorreffation, and admire the usajT-e of the Romish Church in 
even dispensing with pews altogether. Monuments speak to 
the world, and have a general connection with history, so that 
they be tolerated to a certain point, though notorious liars." 

" I agree with you, sir, as to the unfitness of a church for all 
distinction, and shall be happy on every account to get rid of 
my canopy, though that has an historical connection, also. I 
am quite innocent of any feeling of pride while sitting under 
it, though I will confess to some of shame at its qnizzieal 
shape, when I see it has attracted the eyes of intelligent 
strangers." 

"It is but natural that you should feel thus; for, while we 
may miss distinctions and luxuries to which we have ever been 
accustomed, they rarely excite pride in the possessor, even while 
they awaken envy in the looker-on." 

" Nevertheless, I cannot see what the old pew has to do with 
the rents, or my legal rights." 

" When a cause is bad, every thing is pressed into it that it 
is believed may serve a turn. No man who had a good legal 
claim for property, would ever think of urging any other ; nor 
would any legislator who had sound and sufficient reasons for 



T II E R E D 3 K I N S . 6S 

liis measures — reasons that could properly justify him before 
God and man, for his laws — have recourse to slang to sustain 
him. If these anti-renters were right, they would have no 
need of secret combinations, or disguises, blood-and-thunder 
names, and special agents in the legislature of the land. The 
right requires no false aid to make it appear the right ; but the 
wrong mast get such support as it can press into its service. 
Your pew is called aristocratic, though it confers no political 
power ; it is called a patent of nobility, though it neither gives 
nor takes away, and it is hated, and you with it, for the very 
reason that you can sit in it and not make yourself ridiculous. 
I suppose you have not examined very closely the papers I gave 
3^ou to read ?" 

" Enough so to ascertain that they are filled with trash." 

"Worse than trash, Hugh; with some of the loosest prin- 
ciples, and most atrocious feelings, that degrade poor human 
nature. Some of the reformers propose that no man shall hold 
more than a thousand acres of land, while others lay down the 
very intelligible and distinct principle that no man ought to hold 
more than he can use. Even petitions to that eftcct, I have 
been told, have been sent to the legislature." 

" Which has taken care not to allude to their purport, 
cither in deliatc or otherwise, as I see nothing to that effect in 
the reports." 

" Ay, I dare say the slang-whangers of those honorable 
bodies will studiously keep all such enormities out of sight, as 
some of them doubtless hope to step into the shoes of the 
present landlords, as soon as they can get the feet out of them 
which are now in. But these are the projects and the petitions 
in the columns of the journals, and they speak for themselves. 
Among other things, they say it is nobility to be a landlord." 

"I sec by the letter of Mr. Dunning, that they have peti- 
tioned the legislature to order an inquiry into my title. Now, 
we hold from the crown — " 

"So much the worse, Hugh. Faugh! hold from a crown 
in a republican country ! I am amazed you are not ashamed to 



60 TIIEREDSKINS. 

own it. Do you not know, boy, that it lias been gravely con- 
tended in a court of justice that, in obtaining our national 
independence from the king of Great Britain, the people con- 
quered all his previous grants, which ought to be declared void 
and of none effect ?" 

"That is an absurdity of which I had not heard," I an- 
swered, laughing; "why, the people of New York, who held 
all their lands under the crown, would in that case have been 
conquering them for other persons ! My good grandfather and 
great-grandfather, both of whom actually fought and bled in the 
revolution, must have been very silly thus to expose themselves 
to take away their own estates, in order to give them to a set 
of immigrants from New England and other parts of the world." 

"Quite justly said, Hugh," added my uncle, joining in the 
laugh. "Nor is this half of the argument. The state, too, in 
its corporate character, has been playing the swindler all this 
time. You may not know the fact, but I as your guardian do 
know, that the quit-rents reserved by the crown when it granted 
the lands of Mooseridge and Ravensnest, were claimed by the 
state ; and that, wanting money to save the people from taxes, 
it commuted with us, receiving a certain gross sum in satisfoc- 
tion of all future claims." 

"Ay, that I did not know. Can the fact be shown ?" 

" Certainly — it is well known to all old fellows like myself, 
for it was a very general measure, and very generally entered 
into by all the landholders. In our case, the receipts are still 
to be found among the fixmily papers. In the cases of the older 
estates, such as those of the Van Rensselaers, the equity is still 
stronger in their favor, since the conditions to hold the land in- 
cluded an obligation to bring so many settlers from Europe 
within a given time; conditions that were fulfilled at great cost, 
as you may suppose, and on which, in truth, the colony had its 
foundation." 

" How much it tells against a people's honesty to Avisli to for 
get such facts, in a case like this !" 

"There is nothing forgotten, for the facts were probably 



T II E RE D S K I N S. Gl 

never known to tliosc who prate about the conquered rights 
from the crown. As you say, however, the civilization of a 
community is to be measured by its consciousness of the exist- 
ence of all principles of justice, and a familiarity with its own 
history. The great bulk of the population of New York have 
no active desire to invade what is right in this anti-rent strug- 
gle, having no direct interests at stake ; their crime is a passive 
inactivity, which allows those who are either working for 
political advancement, or those who are working to obtain 
other men's property, to make use of them, through their own 
laws." 

"But is it not an embarrassment to such a region as that 
directly around Albany, to have such tenures to the land, and 
for so large a body of people to be compelled to pay rent, in 
the very heart of the state, as it might be, and in situations 
that render it desirable to leave enterprise as unshackled as pos- 
sible ?" 

"I am not prepared to admit this much, even, as a general 
pi-inciple. One argument used by these anti-renters is, for in- 
stance, that the patroons, in their leases, reserved the mill-seats. 
Now, what if they did ? Some one must own the mill-seats ; 
and why not the patroon as well as another ? To give the ar- 
gument any Aveight, not as law, not as morals, but as mere 
expediency, it must be shown that the patroons would not let 
these mill-seats at as low rents as any one else ; and my opinion 
is, that they would let them at rents of not half the amount that 
would be asked, Avere they the property of so many individuals 
scattered up and doAvn the country. But, admitting that so 
large an estate of this particular sort has some inconveniences 
in that particular spot, can there be two opinions among men 
of integrity about the mode of getting rid of it ? Every thing 
has its price, and, in a business sense, every thing is entitled to 
its price. No people acknOAvledge this more than the Ameri- 
cans, or practise on it so extensively. Let the Renssclaers bo 
tempted by such offers as Avill induce them to sell, but do not 
let them be invaded by that most infernal of all acts of oppres- 



02 T 11 E K E D S K I N S . 

sion, special legislation, in order to bully or frighten them from 
the enjoyment of -what is rightfully their own. If the state 
think such a description of property injurious in its heart, lei 
the state imitate England in her conduct toward the slave- 
holders — buy them out; not tax them out, and xoronrj them 
out, and annoy them out. But, Hugh, enough of this at pres- 
ent ; we shall have much more than we Avant of it when we 
get home. Among my letters, I have one from each of my 
other wards." 

" ' Still harping on my daughter,' sir !" I answered, laughing. 
" I hope that the vivacious Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke, and the 
meek Miss Anne Marston, are both perfectly well !" 

" Both in excellent health, and both write charmingly. I 
must really let you see the letter of Henrietta, as I do think 
it is quite creditable to her ; I will step into my room and 
get it." 

I ought to let the reader into a secret here that will have 
some connection with what is to follow. A dead-set had been 
made at me, previously to leaving home, to induce me to marry 
either of three young ladies — Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke, Miss 
Anne Marston, and Miss Opportunity New-come. The ad- 
vances in the cases of Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke and Miss 
Anne Marston came from my uncle Ro, who, as their guardian, 
had a natural interest in their making what he was pleased to 
think might be a good connection for cither; while the ad- 
vances on account of Miss Opportunity Newcome came from 
herself. Under such circumstances, it may be well to say who 
these young ladies actually were. 

Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke was the daughter of an English- 
man of good family, and some estate, Avho had emigrated to 
America and married, under the impulse of certain theories in 
politics which induced him to imagine that this was the prom- 
ised land. I remember him as a disappointed and dissatisfied 
■widower, who was thought to be daily growing poorer under 
the consequences of indiscreet investments, and who at last got 
to be so very English in his wishes and longings, as to assert 



T 11 K i; K 1) SKINS. 63 

that tlic common Muscovy was a better bird than the canvas- 
back ! Pie died, however, in time to leave his only child an 
estate which, under my uncle's excellent management, was 
known by me to be rather more than one hundred and seventy- 
nine thousand dollars, and which produced a net eight thou- 
sand a year. This made Miss Henrietta a belle at once ; but, 
having a prudent friend in my grandmother, as yet she had not 
married a beggar. I knew that uncle Ro went quite as far as 
w'as proper, in his letters, in the way of hints touching myself ; 
and my dear, excellent, honest-hearted, straightforward old 
grandmother had once let fall an expression, in one of her let- 
ters to myself, which induced me to think that these hints had 
actually awakened as much interest in the young lady's bosom, 
as could well be connected with Avhat Avas necessarily nothing 
but curiosity. 

Miss -Anne Marston was also an heiress, but on a very di- 
minished scale. She had rather more than three thousand a year 
in buildings in town, and a pretty little sum of about sixteen 
thousand dollars laid by out of its savings. She was not an 
only child, however, having two brothers, each of whom had 
already received as much as the sister, and each of whom, as 
is very apt to be the ease Avith the heirs of New York mer- 
chants, was already in a fair way of getting rid of his portion in 
riotous living. Nothing does a young American so much good, 
under such circumstances, as to induce him to travel. It makes 
or l)reaks at once. If a downright fool, he is plucked by Euro- 
pean adventurers in so short a time, that the agony is soon over. 
If only vain and frivolous, because young and ill-educated, the 
latter being a New York endemic, but with some foundation of 
native mind, he lets his whiskers grow, becomes fuzzy about 
the chin, dresses better, gets to be much better mannered, soon 
loses his taste for the low and vulgar indulgences of his youth, 
and comes out such a gentleman as one can only make who has 
entirely thrown away the precious moments of youth. If toler- 
ably educated in boyhood, with capacity to build on, the 
chances are that the scales will tall from his eyes very fast on 



64 TIIEREDSKINS. 

landing in the old world — that liis ideas and tastes will take a 
new turn — that he will become what nature intended him for, 
an intellectual man ; and that he Avill finally return home, con- 
scious alike of the evils and blessings, the advantages and dis- 
advantages, of his own system and country — a wiser, and it is 
to be hoped a better man. How the experiment had succeeded 
with the Marstons, neither myself nor my uncle knew; for they 
had paid their visit while we were in the East, and had already 
returned to America. As for Miss Anne, she had a mother to 
take care of her mind and person, though I had learned she was 
pretty, sensible and discreet. 

Miss Opportunity Newcome was a belle of Ravensnest, a vil- 
lage on my own property ; a rural beauty, and of rural educa- 
tion, virtues, manners and habits. As Ravensnest was not 
particularly advanced in civilization, or, to make use of the 
common language of the country, was not a very "aristocratic 
place," I shall not dwell on her accomplishments, which did 
well enough for Ravensnest, but would not essentially ornament 
my manuscript. 

Opportunity was the daughter of Ovid, who was the son of 
Jason, of the house of Newcome. In using the term " house," 
I adopt it understandingly ; for the family had dwelt in the 
same tenement, a leasehold property of Avhich the fee was in 
myself, and the dwelling had been associated with the name of 
Newcome from time immemorial ; that is, for about eighty 
years. All that time had a Newcome been the tenant of the 
mill, tavern, store and farm, that lay nearest the village of Ra- 
vensnest, or Little Nest, as it Avas commonly called ; and it may 
not be impertinent to the moral of my narrative if I add that, 
for all that time, and for something longer, had I and my an- 
cestors been the landlords. I beg the reader to bear this last 
fact in mind, as there will soon be occasion to show that there 
was a strong disposition in certain persons to forget it. 

As I have said. Opportunity was the daughter of Ovid. There 
was also a brother, who was named Seneca, or Sene^'y, as he 
always pronounced it himself, the son of Ovid, the son of Jason, 



T H E K E D S Iv I N S . Oc 

tlie first of the name at Ravensnest. This Seneca was a lawyer, 
in tlie sense of a license granted by the Justices of the Supreme 
Court, as well as by the Court of Common Pleas, in and for the 
county of Washington. As there had been a sort of hereditary 
education among the Newcomcs for three generations, begin- 
ning with Jason, and ending with Seneca; and as the latter 
was at the bar, I had occasionally been thrown into the society 
of both brother and sister. The latter, indeed, used to be fond 
of visiting the Nest, as my house was familiarly called, Ravens- 
nest being its true name, Avhenco those of the " patent" and 
village ; and as Opportunity had early manifested a partiality 
for my dear old grandmother, and not less dear young sister, 
who occasionally passed a few weeks with me during the vaca- 
tions, more especially in the autumns, I had many occasions of 
being brought within the influence of her charms — opportunities 
that, I feel bound to state. Opportunity did not neglect. I have 
understood that her mother, who bore the same name, had 
taught Ovid tlie art of love by a very similar demonstration, 
and had triumphed. That lady was still living, and may bo 
termed Opportunity the Great, while the daughter can be styled 
Opportunity the Less. There was very little ditference between 
my own years and those of the young lady ; and, as I had last 
]:)asscd through the fiery ordeal at the sinister age of twenty, 
there was not much danger in encountering the risk anew, now 
I was five years older. But I must return to my uncle and the 
letter of Miss Henrietta Coldbrookc. 

" Here it is, Hugh," cried my guardian, gayly ; " and a capi- 
tal letter it is ! I wish I could read the whole of it to you ; 
but the two girls made me promise never to show their letters 
to any one, which could mean only you, before they would 
promise to w' rite any thing to me beyond commonplaces. Now, 
I get their sentiments freely and naturally, and the correspond- 
ence is a source of much pleasure to me. I think, however, I 
might venture just to give you one extract." 

"You had better not, sir; there would be a sort of treachery 
in it, that I confess I would rather not be accessory to. If Miss 



60 T H E R E D S i: I N G . 

Coldbrookc do not wish iiic to read what she writes, she can 
hardly wish that you should read any of it to me." 

Uncle Ro glanced at me, and I fancied he seemed dissatisfied 
■with my nonchalance. lie read the letter through to himself, 
however, laughing here, smiling there, then muttering "capi- 
tal !" "good" " charming girl !" " worthy of Hannah More !" etc., 
etc., as if just to provoke my curiosity. But I had no desire to 
read " Hannah More," as any young fellow of five-and-twenty 
can very well imagine, and I stood it all with the indifference of 
a stoic. My guardian had to knock under, and put the letters 
in his writing desk. 

"Well, the girls will be glad to see us," he said, after a mo- 
ment of reflection, "and not a little surprised. In my very last 
letter to my mother, I sent them word that we should not be 
home until October; and now we shall see them as early as 
June, at least." 

"Patt will be delighted, I make no doubt. As for the other 
two young ladies, they have so many friends and relations to care 
for, that I fancy our movements give them no great concern." 

"Then you do both injustice, as their letters would prove. 
They take the liveliest interest in our proceedings, and speak 
of my return as if they look for it with the greatest expectation 
and joy." 

I made my uncle Ro a somewhat saucy answer ; but fair deal- 
ing compels me to record it. 

"I dare say they do, sir," was my reply; "but what young 
lady does not look with ' ex2)ectation and joy' for the return of a 
friend, who is known to have a long purse, from Paris f ' 

"Well, Hugh, you deserve neither of those dear girls ; and, 
if I can help it, you shall have neither." 

"Thank'ee, sir!" 

"Poh! this is worse than silly — it is rude. I dare say nei- 
ther would accept you, were you to offer to-morrow." 

" I trust not, sir, for her own sake. It would be a singularly 
palpable demonstration were either to ticcept a man she barely 
knew, and whom she had not seen since she was fifteen." 



T n K REDSKINS. 67 

Uncle R«) lauglied, but I could see he was confoundedly vexed; 
and, as I loved him with all my lieart, though I did not love 
match-making, I turned the discoui'se, in a pleasant way, on our 
approaching departure. 

"I'll tell you what I'll do, Hugh," cried my uncle, who was 
a good deal of a boy in some things, for the reason, I suppose, 
that he was an old bachelor ; " I'll just have wrong names en- 
tered on board the packet, and we'll surprise all our friends. 
Neither Jacob nor your man will betray us, we know ; and, foi 
that matter, Ave can send them both home by the way of Eng- 
land. Each of us has trunks in London to be looked after, and 
let the two fellows go by the way of Liverpool. That is a good 
thought, and occurred most happily." 

" With all my heart, sir. My fellow is of no more use to mc 
at sea than an automaton would be, and I shall be glad to get 
rid of his rueful countenance. He is a capital servant on terra 
Jirma, but a perfect Niobe on the briny main. " 

The thing was agreed on ; and, a day or two afterward, 
both our body-servants, that is to say, Jacob the black and 
Hubert the German, were on their way to England. My uncle 
let his apartment again, for he alwa3^s maintained I should wish 
to bring my bride to pass a winter in it ; and we proceeded to 
Havre in a sort of incognito. There was little danger of our 
being known on board the packet, and we had previously ascer- 
tained that there was not an acquaintance of either in the ship. 
There was a strong family resemblance between my imcle and 
myself, and we passed for father and son in the ship, as old Mr. 
Davidson and young Mr. Davidson, of Maryland — or Myr-r- 
land, as it is Doric to call that state. We had no concern in 
this part of the deception, unless abstaining from calling my 
supposed father "uncle," as one Avould naturally do in strange 
society, can be so considered. 

The passage itself — by the way, I wish all landsmen would 
be as accurate as I am here, and understand that a "voyage" 
means "out" and "home," or "thence" and "back again," 
while a " passage" means from place to place — but our passage 



68 TIIEREDSKINS. 

was pregnant with no events worth recording. We had the 
usual amount of good and bad weather, the usual amount of eat- 
ing and drinking, and the usual amount of ennui. The latter 
circumstance, perhaps, contributed to the digesting of a further 
scheme of my uncle's, which it is now necessary to state. 

A reperusal of his letters and papers had induced him to 
think the anti-rent movement a thing of more gravity, even, 
than he had at first supposed. The combination on the part of 
the tenants, we learned also from an intelligent New Yorker 
Avho was a felloAV-passenger, extended mucli further than our 
accounts had given us reason to believe ; and it was deemed 
decidedly dangerous for landlords, in many cases, to be seen 
on their own estates. Insult, personal degradation, or injury, 
and even death, it was thought, might be the consequences, in 
many cases. The blood actually spilled had had the effect to 
check the more violent demonstrations, it is true ; but the 
latent determination to achieve their purposes was easily to bo 
traced among the tenants, in the face of all their tardy profes- 
sions of moderation, and a desire for nothing but what was 
right. In this case, Avhat was right was the letter and spirit of 
the contracts ; and nothing was plainer than the fact that these 
were not what was wanted. 

Professions pass for nothing, with the experienced, when con- 
nected with a practice that flatly contradicts them. It was only 
too apparent to all who chose to look into the matter, and that 
by evidence which could not mislead, that the great body of 
the tenants in various counties of New York were bent on ob- 
taining interests in their farms that were not conveyed by their 
leases, without the consent of their landlords, and insomuch 
that they were bent on doing that which should be discounte- 
nanced by every honest man in the community. The very fact 
that they supported, or in any manner connived at, the so-called 
"Injin" system, spoke all that was necessary as to their mo- 
tives; and, when we come to consider that these " Injins" had 
already proceeded to the extremity of shedding blood, it was 
sufficiently plain that things must soon reach a crisis. 



THEREDSKINS. 69 

My uncle Roger and myself reflected on all these matters 
calmly, and decided on our course, I trast, with prudence. As 
that decision has proved to be pregnant with consequences that 
are likely to affect my future life, I shall now briefly give an 
outline of what induced us to adopt it. 

It was all-important for us to visit Eavensnest in person, 
while it might be hazardous to do so openly. The Nest house 
stood in the very centre of the estate, and, ignorant as we were 
of the temper of the tenants, it might be indiscreet to let our 
presence be known ; and circumstances favored our projects of 
concealment. We were not expected to reach the country at 
all until autumn, or "fall," as that season of the year is poeti- 
cally called in America; and this gave us the means of reaching 
the property unexpectedly, and, as we hoped, undetected. Our 
arrangement, then, was very simple, and will be best related in 
the course of the narrative. 

The packet had a reasonably short passage, as we were twen- 
ty-nine days from land to land. It was on a pleasant afternoon 
in May when the hummock-like heights of Nevesink Avere first 
seen from the deck; and an hour later we came in sight of 
the tower-resembling sails of the coasters which were congre- 
gating in the neighborhood of the low point of land that is so 
very appropriately called Sandy Hook. The light-houses rose 
out of the water soon after, and objects on the shore of New 
Jersey next came gradually out of the misty background, until 
we got near enough to be boarded, first by the pilot, and next 
by the news-boat ; the first preceding the last, for a wonder, 
news usually being far more active, in this good republic, than 
watchfulness to prevent evil. My uncle Ro gave the crew of 
this news-boat a thorough scrutiny, and, finding no one on 
board her whom he had ever before seen, he bargained for a 
passage up to town. 

We put our feet on the Battery just as the clocks of New 
York were striking eight. A custom-house ofiicer had exam- 
ined our carpet-bags and permitted them to pass, and we had 
disburdened ourselves of the effects in the ship, by desiring the 



10 



THE REDSKINS, 



captain to attend to tliem. Each of us had a town-house, hut 
iieitlier Avould go near his dwelling ; mine heing only kept up 
in winter, for the use of my sister and aunt, who kindly took 
charge of her during the season, while my uncle's was opened 
principally for his mother. At that season, we had reason to 
think neither was tenanted but by one or two old family ser- 
vants ; and it was our cue also to avoid them. But "Jack 
Dunning," as my uncle always called him, was rather more of 
a friend than of an agent ; and he had a bachelor establishment 
in Chambers street that was precisely the place we wanted. 
Thither, then, we proceeded, taking the route by Greenwich 
street, fearful of meeting some one in Broadway by whom we 
might be recognized. 




THE K E D S K I N S , 



n 



CHAPTER IV. 

Oil. "Speak, speak." 

1 at. "You are all resolved rather to die than to famish K' 
at. " Kesolved, resolved." 

1 at. "First you know, Cains Marcus is chief enemy to the peopl* " 
Cit. "We know't, we know't." 

1 at. " Let's kill him, and we'll have corn at our price. 
Is't a verdict?" 

CORIOLANUS. 

The most inveterate Manliattanese, if he be any tiling of a 
man of the world, must confess that New York is, after all, but 
a rag-fair sort of a place, so far as the eye is concerned. I was 
particularly struck with this fact, even at that hour, as we went 
stumbling along over an atrociously bad side-walk, my eyes 
never at rest, as any one can imagine, after five years of absence. 
I could not help noting the incongruities ; the dwellings of 
marble, in close proximity with miserable, low constructions iu 
wood ; the wretched pavements, and, above all, the country air, 
of a town of near four hundred thousand souls. I very well 
know that many of the defects are to be ascribed to the rapid 
growth of the place, which gives it a sort of hobble-de-hoy look ; 
but, being a Manliattanese by birth, I thought I might just as 
well own it all, at once, if it were only for the information of a 
particular portion of my townsmen, who may have been under a 
certain delusion on the subject. As for comparing the Bay of 
New York with that of Naples on the score of beauty, I shall 
no more be guilty of any such foll}^ to gratify the cockney feel- 
ings of Broadway and Bond street, tlian I should be guilty of 
the folly of comparing the commerce of the ancient Parthenope 
with that of old New York, in order to excite complacency in 
the bosom of some bottcgnjo in the Toledo, or on the Chiaia. 



12 THEREDSKINS. 

Our fast-growing Manhattan is a great town in its ^^•i^y — a won- 
derful place — without a parallel, I do believe, on earth, as a 
proof of enterprise and of the accumulation of business ; and it 
is not easy to make such a town appear ridiculous by any jibes 
and innuendoes that relate to the positive things of this world, 
though notliing is easier than to do it for itself by setting up to 
belong to the sisterhood of such places as London, Paris, Vienna 
and St. Petersburg. There is too much of the American notion 
of the omnipotence of numbers among us Manhattanese, which 
induces us to think that the higher rank in the scale of places 
is to be obtained by majorities. No, no ; let us remember the 
familiar axiom of " ne sutor idtra crepidum." New York is 
just the queen of " business," but not yet the queen of the 
world. Every man who travels ought to bring back something 
to the common stock of knowledge ; and I shall give a hint to 
my townsmen, by which I really think they may be able to tell 
for themselves, as by feeling a sort of moral pulse, when the 
town is rising to the level of a capital. A¥hen simplicity takes 
the place of pretension, is one good rule ; but, as it may require 
a good deal of practice, or native taste, to ascertain this fact, i 
will give another that is obvious to the senses, which will at 
least be strongly symptomatic ; and that is this : when squares 
cease to be called parks ; when horse-bazaars and fashionable 
streets are not called Tattersalls and Bond street ; when Washing- 
ton market is rechristened Bear market, and Franklin and Fulton 
and other great philosophers and inventors are plucked of the 
unmerited honors of having shambles named after them ; when 
commercial is not used as a prefix to emporium; Avhcn people 
can return from abroad without being asked "if they are re- 
conciled to their country," and strangers are not interrogated 
at the second question, "how do you like our city?''^ then may 
it be believed that the town is beginning to go alone, and that 
it may set up for itself. 

Although New York is, out of all question, decidedly pro- 
vincial, laboring under the peculiar vices of provincial habits 
and provincial modes of thinking, it contains many a man of 



THE REDSKINS, 



73 



the world, and some, too, wLio have never quitted their own fire- 
sides. Of this very number was the Jack Dunning, as my uncle 
Ro called him, to whose house in Chambers street we were 
now proceeding. 

"If we were going anywhere but to Dunning' s" said my un- 
cle, as we turned out of Greenwich street, " I should have no 
fear of being recognized by the servants ; for no one here thinks 
of keeping a man six months. Dunning, however, is of the old 
school, and does not like new faces ; so he will have no Irish- 
man at his door, as is the case with two out of three of the 
houses at which one calls, nowadays." 

In another minute we were at the bottom of Mr. Dunning's 
" stoup" — what an infernal contrivance it is to get in and out 
at the door by, in a hotty-cold climate like ours! — but there 
we were, and I observed that my uncle hesitated. 

^'' Parlez au Suisse," said I; "ten to one he is fresh from 
some Bally-this, or Bally-that." 

"No, no; it must be old Garry the nigger" — my uncle Ro 
was of the old school himself, and would say "nigger" — "Jack 
can never have parted with Garry." 

"Garry" was the diminutive of Garret, a somewhat common 
Dutch Christian name among us. 

We rang, and the door opened — in about five minutes. Al- 
though the terms " aristocrat" and "aristocracy" are much in 
men's mouths in America just now, as well as those of " feudal" 
and the "middle ages," and this, too, as applied to modes of 
living as well as to leasehold tenures, there is but one porter in 
the whole country ; and he belongs to the White House, at 
Washington. I am afraid even that personage, royal porter as 
lie is, is often out of the way ; and the reception he gives when 
he is there, is not of the most brilliant and princely character. 
W^hen we had waited three minutes, my uncle Ro said — 

" I am afraid Garry is taking a nap by the kitchen fire ; I'll 
try him again," 

XJaclo Ro did try again, and, two minutes later, the door 
opened, 
4 



74 THE REDSKINS. 

"What is your pleasure?" demanded tlie Suisse, witli a 
btrong brogue. 

My uncle started back as if he had met a sprite ; but he asked 
if Mr. Dunning was at home. 

** He is, indeed, sir." 

"Is he alone, or is he with company?" 

"He is, indeed." 

"But tohat is he indeed ?" 

''He is that. "" 

" Can you take the trouble to explain which that it is? Has 
he company, or is he alone ?" 

"Just that, sir. Walk in, and he'll be charmed to see you. 
A fine gentleman is his honor, and pleasure it is to live with 
him, I'm sure !" 

"How long is it since you left Ireland, my friend ?" 

"Isn't it a mighty bit, now, yer honor!" answered Barney, 
closing the door. " T'irtecn weeks, if it's one day." 

" Well, go ahead, and show us the way. This is a bad 
omen, Hugh, to find that Jack Dunning, of all men in the 
country, should have changed his servant — good, quiet, lazy, 
respectable, old, gray-headed GaiTy the nigger — for such a bog- 
trotter as that fellow, who climbs those stairs as if accustomed 
only to ladders." 

Dunning was in his library on the second floor, where ho 
passed most of his evenings. His surprise was equal to that 
which my uncle had just experienced, when he saw us two 
standing before him. A significant gesture, however, caused 
him to gi'asp his friend and client's hand in silence ; and nothing 
was said until the Swiss had left the room, although the fellow 
stood with the door in his hand a most inconvenient time, just 
to listen to what might pass between the host and his guests. 
At length we got rid of him, honest, well-meaning fellow that 
he was, after all ; and the door was closed. 

" My last letters have brought you home, Roger?" said Jack, 
the moment he could speak ; for feeling, as well as caution, had 
something to do Avith his silence. 



T 11 E K E D S K I N S . V5 

*' They have, indeed. A great change must have come over 
the country, by what I hear ; and one of the very worst symp- 
toms is that you have turned away Garry, and got an Irishman 
in his place." 

'* Ah ! old men must die, as well as old principles, I find. 
My poor fellow Avent off in a fit, last week, and I took that 
Irishman as a pis alter. After losing poor Garry, who was born 
a slave in my father's house, I became indiftercnt, and accepted 
the first comer from the intelligence oflice." 

"We must be careful, Dunning, not to give up too soon. 
But hear my story, and then to other matters." 

My uncle then explained his wish to be incognito, and his 
motive. Dunning listened attentively, but seemed uncertain 
whether to dissent or approve. The matter was discussed 
briefly, and then it was postponed for further consideration. 

"But how comes on this great moral dereliction, called anti- 
rcntism ? Is it on the wane, or the increase ?" 

" On the wane, to the eye, perhaps; but on the increase, so 
far as principles, the rights, and facts, are concerned. The nec- 
essity of propitiating votes is tempting politicians of all sides to 
lend themselves to it ; and there is imminent danger now, that 
atrocious wrongs will be committed under the form of law." 

" In what way can the law touch an existing contract ? The 
Supreme Court of the United States will set that right." 

" That is the only hope of the honest, let me tell you. It 
is folly to expect that a body composed of such men as usually 
are sent to the state legislature, can resist the temptation to 
gain power by conciliating numbers. That is out of the ques- 
tion. Individuals of these bodies may resist; but the tendency 
there will be as against the few, and in favor of the many, bol- 
stering their theories by clap-traps and slang political phrases. 
The scheme to tax the rents, under the name of quit-rents, will 
be resorted to, in the first place." 

" That will be a most iniquitous proceeding, and would just- 
ify resistance just as much as our ancestors were justified in re- 
bisting the taxation of Great Britain." 



Y6 THEREDSKINS. 

"It would more so, for here we liave a written covenant to 
render taxation equal. The landlord already pays one tax on 
each of these farms — a full and complete tax, that is reserved 
from the rent in the original bargain with the tenant ; and now 
the wish is to tax the rents themselves ; and this not to raise 
revenue, for that is confessedly not wanted, but most clearly 
with a design to increase the inducements for the landlords to 
part with their property. If that can be done, the sales will be 
made on the principle that none but the tenant must be, as in- 
deed no one else can be, the purchaser ; and then we shall see 
a queer exhibition — men parting with their property under the 
pressure of a clamor that is backed by as much law as can be 
pressed into its service, with a monopoly of price on the side 
of the purchaser, and all in a country professing the most sen- 
sitive love of liberty, and where the prevailing class of politicians 
are free-trade men ?" 

" There is no end of these inconsistencies among politi- 
cians." 

"There is no end of knavery when men submit to 'noses,' 
instead of principles. Call things by their right names, Eo, as 
they deserve to be. This matter is so plain, that he who runs 
can read. 

" But will this scheme of taxation succeed ? It does not affect 
us, for instance, as our leases are for three lives." 

"Oh ! that is nothing ; for you they contemplate a law that 
will forbid the letting of land, for the future, for a period 
longer than five years. Hugh's leases will soon be falling in, 
and then he can't make a slave of any man for a longer period 
than five years." 

" Surely no one is so silly as to think of passing such a law, 
with a view to put down aristocracy, and to benefit the tenant!' 
I cried, laughing. 

"Ay, you may laugh, young sir," resumed Jack Dunning; 
" but such is the intention. I know very well what will be 
your course of reasoning ; you will say, the longer the lease, 
the better for the tenant, if the bargain be reasonably good ; 



T II K REDSKINS. ^7 

and landlords cannot ask more for tlie use of their lands than 
they are really worth in this country, there happening to be 
more land than there are men to work it. No, no ; landlords 
rather get less for their lands than they are worth, instead of 
more, for that plain reason. To compel the tenant to take a 
lease, therefore, for a term as short as five years, is to injure 
him, you think ; to place him more at the control of his land- 
lord, through the little interests connected with the cost and 
trouble of moving, and through the natural desire he may pos- 
sess to cut the meadows he has seeded, and to get the full 
benefit of manure he has made and carted. I see how you rea- 
son, young sir; but you are behind the age — you are sadly 
behind the age." 

" The age is a queer one, if I am ! All over the world it is 
believed that long leases are favors, or advantages, to tenants ; 
and nothing can make it otherwise, cceteris paribus. Then 
what good will the tax do, after violating right and moral 
justice, if not positive law, to lay it ? On a hundred dollars 
of rent, I should have to pay some fifty-five cents of taxes, as 
I am assessed on other things at Ravensnest ; and does ^ any 
body suppose I will give up an estate that has passed through 
five generations of my family, on account of a tribute like 
that !" 

"Mighty well, sir — mighty well, sir! This is fine talk; but 
I would advise you not to speak of i/our ancestors at all. 
Landlords can't name thch- ancestors with impunity just 
now." 

'* I name mine only as showing a reason for a natural regard 
for my paternal acres." 

"That you might do, if you were a tenant; but not as a 
landlord. In a landlord, it is aristocratic and intolerable pride, 
and to the last degree offensive — as Dogberry sa3's, * tolerable 
and not to be endured.' " 

" But it is a fact, and it is natural one should have some feel- 
ings connected with it." 

"Tlie more it is a fact, the less it will be liked. People 



7s THE REDSKINS. 

associate social position with wealth and estates, but not with 
farms ; and the longer one has such things in a family, the worse 
for them !" 

" I do believe, Jack," put in my uncle Ro, " that the rule 
which prevails all over the rest of the world is reversed here, 
and that with us it is thought a family's claim is lessened, and 
not increased, by time." 

"To be sure it is!" answered Dunning, without giving me a 
chance to speak. "Do you know that you wrote me a veiy 
silly letter once, from Switzerland, about a family called Dc 
Blonay, that had been seated on the same rock, in a little castle, 
some six or eight hundred years, and the sort of respect and 
veneration the circumstance awakened? Well, all that was 
very foolish, as you will find Avhen you pay your incognito visit 
to Ravensnest. I will not anticipate the result of your school- 
ing; but, go to school." 

"As the Rensselaers and other great landlords, who have 
estates on durable leases, will not be very likely to give them 
up, except on terms that will suit themselves, for a tax as insig- 
nificant as that mentioned by Hugh," said my uncle, " what 
does the legislature anticipate from passing the law ?" 

" That its members will be called the friends of the people, 
and not the friends of the landlords. Would any man tax his 
friends, if he could help it?" 

"But what will that portion of the people who compose the 
anti-renters gain by such a measure?" 

"Nothing; and their complaints Avill be just as loud, and 
their longings as active, as ever. Nothing that can have any 
eff"ect on what they wish, will be accomplished by any legisla- 
tion in the matter. One committee of the assembly has actually 
reported, you may remember, that the state might assume the 
lands, and sell them to the tenants, or some one else ; or some 
thing of the sort." 

"The constitution of the United States must be Hugh'? 
ffgis." 

"And that alone will protect him, let me tell you. But foj 



TIIEREDSKINS. 7U 

that iiublo provision of the constitution of the federal govern- 
ment, his estate Avould infallibly go for one-half its true value. 
There is no use in mincing things, or in affecting to believe men 
more honest than they are — an infernal feeling of selfish- 
ness IS so MUCH TALKED OF, AND CITED, AND REFERRED TO, ON 
ALL OCCASIONS, IN THIS COUNTRY, THAT A MAN ALMOST RENDERS 
HIMSELF RIDICULOUS WHO APPEARS TO REST ON PRINCIPLE." 

*' Have you heard what the tenants of Ravensnest aim at, in 
particular V 

"They want to get Hugh's lands, that's all ; nothing more, 
I can assure you." 

"On what conditions, pray?" demanded I. 

" As you 'light of chaps,' to use a saying of their own. Some 
even profess a willingness to pay a fair price." 

" But I do not wish to sell for even a fair price. I have no 
desire to part with property that is endeared to me by family 
feeling and association. I have an expensive house and estab- 
lishment on my estate, which obtains its principal value from 
the circumstance that it is so placed that I can look after my 
interests with the least inconvenience to myself. What can I 
do with the money but buy another estate ? and I prefer this 
that I have." 

"Poh! boy, you can shave notes, you'll recollect," said 
uncle Ro, dryly. "The calling is decided to be honorable 
by the highest tribunal ; and no man should be above his busi- 
ness." 

"You have no right, sir, in a free country," returned the 
caustic Jack Dunning, *' to prefer one estate to another, more 
especially when other people want it. Your lands are leased to 
honest, hard-working tenants, who can eat their dinners without 
silver forks, and whose ancestors " 

"Stop !" I cried, laughing; " I bar all ancestry. No man has 
a right to ancestry in a free country, you'll remember!" 

" That means landlord-ancestry; as for tenant-ancestry, one 
can have a pedigree as long as the Maison de Levis. No, sir; 
every tenant you have has every right to demand that his senti- 



80 TIIEREDSKINS. 

mcnt of family feeling should be respected. His father planted 
tbat orchard, and he loves the apples better than any other ap- 
ples in the world " 

"And my father procured the grafts, and made him a pres- 
ent of them." 

"His grandfather cleared that field, and converted its ashes 
into pots and pearls " 

"And my grandfather received that year ten shillings of rent, 
for land off -which his received two hundred and fifty dollars for 
his ashes."' 

"His great-gi'andfather, honest and excellent man — nay, 
superhonest and confiding creature — first ' took up' the land 
when a wilderness, and with his own hands felled the timber, 
and sowed the wheat." 

" And got his pay twenty-fold for it all, or he would not have 
been fool enough to do it. I had a great-grandfather, too ; 
and I hope it will not be considered aristocratic if I venture to 
hint as much. He — a dishonest, pestilent knave, no doubt — 
leased that very lot for six years without any rent at all, in 
order that the ' poor, confiding creature' might make himself 
comfortable, before he commenced paying his sixpence or shil- 
ling an acre rent for the remainder of three lives, with a moral 
certainty of getting a renewal on the most liberal terms known 
to a new country ; and who knew, the whole time, he could 
buy land in fee, within ten miles of his door, but who thought 
this a better bargain than that.^'' 

" Enough of this folly," cried uncle Ro, joining in the laugh ; 
" we all know that, in our excellent America, he who has the 
highest claims to any thing, must affect to have the least, to 
stifle the monster envy ; and, being of one mind as to princi- 
ples, let us come to facts. What of the girls. Jack, and of my 
honored mother?" 

" She, noble, heroic woman ! she is at Ravensnest at this 
moment ; and, as the girls would not permit her to go alone, 
they are all with her." 

"And did you, Jack Dunning, suffer them to go unattended 



THEREDSKINS. 81 

into a part of the country that is in open rebellion ?" demanded 
ray uncle, reproachfully. 

"Come, come! Hodge Littlcpage, this is very sublime as a 
theory, but not so clear when reduced to practice. I did not 
go with Mrs. Littlepage and her young fry, for the good and 
substantial reason that I did not wish to be 'tarred and 
feathered.' " 

" So you leave them to run the risk of being ' tarred and 
feathered' in your stead ?" 

"Say what you will about the cant of freedom that is becom- 
ing so common among us, and from which we were once so 
free ; say what you will, Ro, of the inconsistency of those who 
raise the cry of 'feudality,' and 'aristocracy,' and 'nobility,' at 
the very moment they are manifesting a desire for exclusive 
rights and privileges in their own persons ; say what you will 
of dishonesty, envy, that prominent American vice, knavery, 
covetousness, and selfishness ; and I will echo all you can utter ; 
— but do not say that a woman can be in serious danger among 
any material body of Americans, even if anti-renters, and raock- 
redskins in the bargain." 

" I believe you are right there, Jack, on reflection. Pardon 
my warmth ; but I have lately been living in the old world, and 
in a country in which women were not long since carried to 
the scaffold on account of their politics." 

" Because they meddled with politics. Your mother is in 
no serious danger, though it needs nerve in a woman to be able 
to think so. There are few Avomen in the state, and fewer of 
her time of life anywhere, that would do what she has done ; 
and I give the girls great credit for sticking by her. Half the 
young men in town are desperate at the thought of three such 
charming creatures thus exposing themselves to insult. Your 
mother has only been sued," 

"Sued! Whom does she owe, or what can she have done 
to have brought this indignity on her?" 

"You know, or ouglit to know, how it is in this country, 
Littlcpage; wc must have a little law, even when most bent on 



82 THE REDSKINS. 

breaking it. A downriglit, straightforward rascal, who openly 
sets law at defiance, is a wonder. Then we have a great talk 
of liberty, when plotting to give it the deepest stab ; and relig- 
ion even gets to share in no small portion of our vices. Thus 
it is that the anti-renters have dragged in the laAV in aid of their 
designs. I understand one of the Rensselaers has been sued 
for money borrowed in a ferry-boat to help him across a river 
vmder his own door, and for potatoes bought by his Avifc in the 
streets of Albany !" 

"But neither of the Rensselaers need borrow money to cross 
the ferry, as the ferry-men would trust him ; and no lady of the 
liensselaer family ever bought potatoes in the streets of Albany, 
I'll answer for it." 

"You have brought back some knowledge from your travels, 
I find!" said Jack Dunning, with comic gravity. "Your moth- 
er writes me that she has been sued for twenty-seven pairs of 
shoes furnished her by a shoemaker whom she never saw, or 
heard of, until she received the summons!" 

"This, then, is one of the species of annoyances that has 
been adopted to bully the landlords out of their property?" 

" It is ; and if the landlords have recourse even to the coven- 
ants of their leases, solemnly and deliberately made, and as 
solemnly guaranteed by a fundamental law, the cry is raised of 
* aristocracy' and ' oppression' by these veiy men, and echoed 
by many of the creatures who get seats in high places among 
us — or what loould be high places, if filled with men worthy of 
their trusts." 

"I see you do not mince your words. Jack." 

"Why should I ? Words are all that is left me. I am of 
no more weight in the government of this state than that Irish- 
man who let you in just now, will be five years hence — less, 
for he will vote to suit a majority ; and as I shall vote under- 
standingly, my vote will probably do no one any good." 

Dunning belonged to a school that mingles a good deal of 
speculative and impracticable theory, with a great deal of sound 
Hnd just principles ; but who render themselves useless becauss 



T II E R E D S K I N 8 . 83 ' 

they will admit of no compromises. He did not belong to the 
class of American doctrinaires, however, or to those who con- 
tend — no, not contend, for no one does that any longer in this 
country, whatever may be his opinion on the subject — but 
those who think that political power, as in the last resort, 
should be the property of the few ; for he was willing New 
York should have a very broad constituency. Nevertheless, he 
Avas opposed to the universal suffrage, in its wide extent, that 
does actually exist ; as I suppose quite three-fourths of the 
whole population are opposed to it, in their hearts, though no 
political man of influence, now existing, has the moral calibre 
necessary to take the lead in putting it down. Dunning defer- 
red to principles, and not to men. He well knew that an 
infallible whole was not to be composed of fallible parts ; and 
while he thought majorities ought to determine many things, 
that there are rights and principles that are superior to even 
such unanimity as man can manifest, and much more to their 
majorities. But Dunning had no selfish views connected with 
his political notions, wanting no ofiice, and feeling no motive 
to afliect that which he neither thought nor wished. He never 
had quitted home, or it is highly probable his views of the 
comparative abuses of the different systems that prevail in the 
world would have been essentially modified. Those he saw 
had unavoidably a democratic source, there being neither 
monarch nor aristocrat to produce any other ; and, under 
such circumstances, as abuses certainly abound, it is not at all 
surprising that he sometimes a little distorted facts, and magni- 
fied evils. 

"And my noble, high-spirited, and venerable mother has ac- 
tually gone to the Nest to face the enemy !" exclaimed my uncle, 
after a thoughtful pause. 

" She has, indeed ; and the noble, high-spirited, though not 
venerable, young ladies have gone with her," returned Mr. Dun- 
ning, in his caustic way. 

" All three, do you mean ?" 

"Every one of them — Martha, Henrietta and Anne." 



84 TIIEREDSKINS. 

" I am sitt'pi"iscd that the last should have done so. Anne 
Marston is such a meek, quiet, peace-loving person, that I 
should think she would have preferred remaining, as she natu- 
rally might have done, without exciting remark, with her own 
mother." 

" She has not, nevertheless. Mrs. Littlepage would brave the 
anti-renters, and the three maidens tvould be her companions. 
I dare say, Ko, you know how it is with the gentle sex, when 
they make up their minds ?" 

"My girls are all good girls,. and have given me very little 
trouble," answered my uncle complacently. 

"Yes, I dare say that may be true. You have only been 
absent from home five years, this trip." 

"An attentive guardian, notwithstanding, since I left you as 
a substitute. Has my mother written to you since her arrival 
among the hosts of the Philistines?" 

"She has, indeed, Littlepage," answered Dunning, gravely; 
" I have heard from her three times, for she writes to urge my 
not appearing on the estate. I did intend to pay her a visit ; 
but she tells me that it might lead to a violent scene, and can 
do no good. As the rents will not be due until autumn, and 
Master Hugh is now of age, and was to be here to look after 
his own aftairs, I have seen no motive for incurring the risk of 
the tarring and feathering. Wc American lawyers, young gen- 
tleman, Avear no wigs." 

"Does my mother write herself, or employ another?" in- 
quired my uncle, with interest. 

" She honors me with her own hand. Your mother writes, 
much better than you do yourself, Roger." 

" ITiat is owing to her once having carried chain, as she 
would say herself. Has Martha written to you ?" 

"Of course. Sweet little Patty and I are bosom friends, as 
you know." 

" And docs she say any thing of the Indian and the 
negro ?" 

" Jaaf and Susqucsus ? To be sure she docs. Both arc liv 



T II E R E D S K I N S . 85 

ing still, and both arc well. I saw tliem myself, and even ate 
of their venison, so lately as last winter." 

"Those old fellows must have each lived a great deal more 
than his century, Jack. They were with my grandfather in the 
old French Avar, as active, useful men — older then than my 
grandfather !" 

" Ay ! a nigger or a redskin, before all others, for holding on 
to life, when they havo been temperate. Let me sec — that 
expedition of Abercrombic's was about eighty years since ; why, 
these fellows must be well turned of their hundred, though 
Jaap is rather the oldest, judging from appearances." 

" I believe no one knows the age of either. A hundred each 
has been thought, now, for many years. Susquesus was sur- 
prisingly active, too, when I last saw him — like a healthy man 
of eighty." 

"He has failed of late, though he actually shot a deer, as I 
told you, last winter. Both the old fellows stray down to the 
Nest, Martha writes me ; and the Indian is highly scandalized 
at the miserable imitations of his race that are now abroad. I 
have even heard that he and Yop have actually contemplated 
taking the field against them. Seneca Newcome is their espec- 
ial aversion." 

"llowis Opportunity?" I inquired. "Does she take any 
part in this movement?" 

" A decided one, I hear. She is anti-rent, while she wishes 
to keep on good terms with her landlord ; and that is endeavoring 
to serve God and Mammon. She is not the first, however, by 
a thousand, that wears two faces in this business." 

" Hugh has a deep admiration of Opportunity," observed my 
imcle, " and you had needs be tender in your strictures. The 
modern Seneca, I take it, is dead against us?" 

" Seneky wishes to go to the legislature, and of course he is 
on the side of votes. Then his brother is a tenant at the mill, 
and naturally wishes to be the landlord. He is also interested 
in the land himself. One thing lias struck me in this contro- 
versy as highly worthy of notice ; and it is the ndivclc with 



80 T H E R E D S K I N S . 

which men reconcile the ohvious longing of covctousness "vvitli 
what they are pleased to fancy the principles of liberty ! When 
a man has worked a farm a certain number of years, he boldly 
sets up the doctrine that the fact itself gives him a high moral 
claim to possess it forever. A moment's examination will ex- 
pose the fallacy by which these sophists apply the flattering 
unction to their souls. They work their farms under a lease, 
and in virtue of its covenants. Now, in a moral sense, all that 
time can do in such a case, is to render these covenants the 
more sacred, and consequently more binding; but these wor- 
thies, whose morality is all on one side, imagine that these time- 
honored covenants give them a right to fly from their own condi- 
tions during their existence, and to raise pretensions far exceed- 
ing any thing they themselves confer, the moment they cease." 

" Poh, poh ! Jack ; there is no need of refining at all, to 
come at the merits of such a question. This is a civilized coun- 
try, or it is not. If it be a civilized country, it will respect the 
rights of property, and its own laws ; and if the reverse, it will 
not respect them. As for setting up the doctrine, at this late 
day, when millions and millions are invested in this particular 
species of property, that the leasehold tenure is opposed to the 
spirit of institutions of which it has substantially formed a part, 
ever since those institutions have themselves had an existence, 
it requires a bold front, and more capacity than any man at 
Albany possesses, to make the doctrines go down. Men may 
run oft" with the notion that the tendencies to certain abuses, 
which mark every system, form their spirit ; but this is a fallacy 
that a very little thought will correct. Is it true that proposals 
have actually been made, by these pretenders to liberty, to 
appoint commissioners to act as arbitrators between the land- 
lords and tenants, and to decide points that no one has any 
right to raise?" 

" True as Holy Writ ; and a regular ' Star Chamber' tribunal 
it would be! It is wonderful, after all, how extremes do 
meet!" 

"That 13 a3 certain as the return of the sun after night. But 



T n E R E U S K I N S . S7 

Irt US now talk of our project, Jack, and of the moans of getting 
among these self-deluded men — deluded by their own covetous- 
ness — without being discovered; for I am determined to see 
them, and to judge of their motives and conduct for myself." 

" Take care of the tar-barrel, and of the pillow-case of feath- 
ers, Roger !" 

" I shall endeavor so to do." 

We then discussed the matter before us at length and leisure- 
ly. 1 shall not relate all that was said, as it would be going 
over the same ground twice, but refer the reader to the regular 
narrative. At the usual hour, we retired to our beds, retaining 
the name of Davidson, as convenient and prudent. Next day 
Mr. John Dunning busied himself in our behalf, and made 
himself exceedingly useful to us. In his character of an old 
bachelor, he had many acquaintances at the theatre ; and 
through his friends of the green-room he supplied each of us 
with a wig. Both my uncle and myself spoke German reason- 
ably well, 'and our original plan was to travel in the character 
of immigrant trinket and essence peddlers. But I had a fancy 
for a hand-organ and a monkey ; and it was finally agreed that 
Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, senior, was to undertake this ad- 
venture with a box of cheap watches, and gilded trinkets; 
while Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, junior, was to commence his 
travels at home, in the character of a music-grinder. Modesty 
will not permit me to say all I might, in fiivor of my own skill 
ill music in general ; but I sang well for an amateur, and plaved 
both on the violin and flute, far better than is common. 

Every thing was arranged in the course of the following day, 
our wigs of themselves completely effecting all the disguises 
that were necessary. As for my uncle, he was nearly bald, 
and a wig was no great encumbrance ; but my sliaggy locks 
gave me some trouble. A little clipping, however, answered 
the turn ; and I had a hearty laugh at myself, in costume, that 
afternoon, before Dunning's dressing-room glass. We got 
round the felony law, about being armed and disguised, by car- 
rying no weapons but our tools in the wav t)f trade. 



88 TIIEREDSKINS, 



CHAPTER V. 

"And she hath smiles to earth iinknowa — 
Smiles, that with motion of their own 
Do spreaJ, and sink, and rise : 
That come and go with endless pl:iy 
And ever, as they pass away, 
Are hidden in her eyes." 

WOKDSWOETU. 

I WAS early in costume the following morning. I question 
if my own mother could have known mc, had she lived long 
enough to see the whiskers sprout on my cheeks, and to con- 
template my countenance as a man. I went into Dunning's 
library, drew the little hurdy-gurdy from its hiding-place, slung 
it, and began to play St. Patrick's Day in the Morning, with 
spirit, and, I trust I may add, with execution. I was in the 
height of the air, when the door opened, and Barney thrust his 
high-cheeked-bone face into the room, his mouth as wide open 
as that of a frozen porker. 

" Where the divil did ye come from ?" demanded the new 
footman, with the muscles of that vast aperture of his working 
from grin to grim, and grim to grin again. " Yee's wilcome to 
the tchune ; but how comes ye here ?" 

" I coomes vrom Halle, in Preusscn. Vat isht your vatcr- 
land?" 

"Be yecs a Jew ?" 

"Nein — I isht a goot Christian. Vilt you haf Yankee 
Tootle ?" 

" Yankee T' under ! Ye'll wake up the masther, and he'll be 
displais'd, else ye might work on that tchune till the end of 
time. That I should hear it here, in my own libcrary, andould 
Ireland t'ree thousand laigucs away !" 

A hiugh from Dunning interrupted the dialogue, when Barney 



Til E RE D S Iv 1 N S. 89 

vanished, no doubt anticipating some species of American pun- 
ishment for a presumed delinquency. Whether the blundering, 
well-meaning, honest fellow really ascertained Avho we were that 
bi'cakfastcd with his master, I do not know ; but we got the 
meal and left the house without seeing his face again, Dunning 
having a young yellow fellow to do the service of the table. 

I need scarcely say that I felt a little awkward at finding my- 
self in the streets of New York in such a guise ; but the gravity 
and self-possession of my uncle were a constant source of amuse- 
ment to me. He actually sold a watch on the wharf before the 
boat left it, though I imputed his success to the circumstance 
that his price was what a brother dealer, Avho happened to be 
trading in the same neighborhood, pronounced " onconscion- 
ably low." We took a comfortable state-room between us, 
under the pretence of locking-up our property, and strolled 
about the boat, gaping and looking curious, as became our 
class. 

" Ilere are at least a dozen people that I know," said my 
uncle, as we were lounging around — loafing around, is the 
modern Doric — about the time that the boat was paddling 
past Fort Washington ; "I have reconnoitred in all quarters, 
and find quite a dozen. I have been conversing with an old 
school-fellow, and one with whom I have ever lived in tolerable 
intimacy, for the last ten minutes, and find my broken English 
and disguise are perfect. I am confident my dear mother her- 
self would not recognize me." 

" We can then amuse ourselves with my grandmother and 
the young ladies," I answered, " when we reach the Nest. For 
my part, it strikes me that Ave had better keep our own secret 
to the last moment." 

"Ilush! As I live, there is Seneca Newcome this moment! 
lie is coming this way, and we must be Germans again." 

Sure enough, there was 'Squire Seneky, as the honest formers 
around the Nest call him ; though many of them must change 
tlicir practices, or it will shortly become so absurd to apply the 
term "honest" to them, that no one will have the hardihood to 



90 TIIEl. EDSKINS. 

use it. Newcomc came slowly toward the forecastle, on which 
we were standing ; and my uncle determined to get into con- 
versation with him, as a means of further proving the virtue of 
our disguises, as well as possibly of opening the way to some 
communications that might facilitate our visit to the Nest. With 
this view, the pretended peddler drew a Avatch from his pocket, 
and offering it meekly to the inspection of the quasi lawyer, he 
said — 

"Puy a vatch, shentlemans?" 

"Hey! what? Oh a watch," returned Seneca, in that high, 
condescending, vulgar key, with which the salt of the earth usual- 
ly affect to treat those they evidently think much beneath them 
in intellect, station, or some other great essential, at the very 
moment they arc bursting with envy, and denouncing as aristo- 
crats all who are above them. "Hey! a watch is it? Wliat 
countryman are you, friend ?" 

"A Charmans — ein Teutscher." 

"A German — ine Tycher is the place you come from, I 
s'pose?" 

" Nein — ein Teutscher isht a Charman." 

"Oh, yes! I understand. Hoav long have you been in 
Ameriky ?" 

"Twelfmoont's." 

" Why, that's most long enough to make you citizens. Where 
do you live?" 

"Nowhere; I lifs jest asht it happens — soometimes here, ant 
soometimes dere." 

" Ay, ay ! I understand — no legal domicile, but lead a wan- 
dering life. Have you many of these watches for sale ?" 

" Yees — I haf asht many as twenty. Dey arc as sheep as 
dirt, and go like pig clocks." 

"And what may be your price for this?" 

"Dat you can haf for only eight tollars. Effcry poty wilt 
say it is go It, dat doesn't know petter." 

"Oh! it isn't gold then — I swan!" — what this oath meant 
I never exactly knew, though I suppose it to be a Puritan mode 



T II E U E D S K I N 3 . 91 

of saying "I swear!" the attempts to cheat the devil in this 
way being very common among their pious descendants, though 
even "Smith Thompson" himself can do no man any good in 
such a case of conscience — "I swan! you come plaguy near 
taking even me in! Will you come down from that price 
any?" 

"If you wilt gif me some atfice, perhaps I may. You look 
like a goot shentlemans, and one dat woultn't sheat a poor 
Charmans; ant effery poty wants so much to sheat de poor 
Charmans, dat I will take six, if you will drow in some 
atfice." 

" Advice ? You have come to the right man for that ? Walk 
a little this way, where we shall be alone. What is the natur' 
of the matter — action on the case, or a tort ?" 

" Nein, ncin ! it isht not law dat I wants, put atfice." 

" Well, but advice leads to law, ninety-nine times in a hun- 
dred." 

" Ya, ya !" answered the peddler, laughing ; " dat may be 
so ; put it isht not what I vants — I vants to know vere a 
Charman can trafel wit' his goots in de country, and not in de 
pig towns." 

" I understand you — six dollars, hey ! That sounds high for 
such a looking watch" — he had just before mistaken it for 
gold — "but I'm always the poor man's friend, and despise 
aristocracy" — what Seneca hated with the strongest hate, he 
ever fancied he despised the most, and by aristocracy he merely 
understood gentlemen and ladies, in the true signification of the 
Avords — "why, I'm always ready to help along the honest 
citizen. If you could make up your mind, now, to part with 
this one watch for nawthin', I think I could tell you a part 
of the country where you might sell the other nineteen in a 
week." 

"Goot!" exclaimed my uncle, cheerfully. "Take him — he 
ist your broberty, and wilcome. Only show mc de town where 
I canst sell de nineteen udders," 

Had my uncle Ro been a true son of peddling, he would hav? 



92 TUEREDSKINS, 

charged a dollar extra on each of the nineteen, and made eleven 
dollars by his present liberality. 

"It is no town at all — only a township," returned the liberal 
Seneca. " Did you expect it would be a city ?" 

"Vat 'cares I? I woult radder sell my vatches to goot 
honest, country men, dan asht to de best burghers in the 
land." 

"You're my man! The right spirit is in you, I hope 
you're no patroon — no aristocrat ?" 

" I don't know vat isht badroon, or vat isht arishtocrat." 

" No ! You are a happy man in your ignorance. A pa- 
troon is a nobleman who owns another man's land ; and an 
aristocrat is a body that thinks himself better than his neigh- 
bors, friend." 

" Well den, I isht no badroon, for I don't own no land 
at all, not even mine own ; and I ishn't petter asht no poty at 
all." 

"Yes, you be ; you've only to think so, and you'll be the 
greatest gentleman of 'em all." 

"Well, den, I will dry and dink so, and be petter asht de 
greatest shentlemans of dem all. But dat won't do, nuddcr, as 
dat vilt make me petter dan you ; for you are one of de greatest 
of dem all, shentlemans." 

" Oh ! as for me, let me alone. I scorn being on their level. 
T go for ' down with the rents !' and so'll you, too, afore you've 
been a week in our part of the country." 

*' Vat isht de rent dat you vants to git down ?" 

" It's a thing that's opposed to the spirit of the institutions, 
as you can see by my feelin's at this very moment. But no 
matter ? I'U keep the watch, if you say so, and show you the 
way into that part of the country, as your pay." 

" Agreet, shentlemans. Vat I vants is atfice, and vat you 
vants is a vatch." 

Here uncle Ro laughed so much like himself, when he ought 
clearly to have laughed in broken English, that I was very much 
afraid he might give the alarm to our companion \ but he did 



T II E n E D S K I N S . 93 

not. From that time, the best relation existed between us and 
Seneca, who, in the course of the day, recognized us by sundry 
smiles and winks, though I could plainly see he did not like the 
anti-aristocratic principle sufficiently to wish to seem too inti- 
mate with us. Before we reached the islands, however, he gave 
us directions where to meet him in the morning, and we parted, 
when the boat stopped alongside of the pier at Albany that 
afternoon, the best friends in the world. 

" Albany ! dear, good old Albany !" exclaimed my uncle 
Ro, as we stopped on the draw of the bridge to look at the 
busy scene in the basin, where literally hundreds of canal-boats 
were either lying to discharge or to load, or were coming and 
going, to say nothing of other craft ; " dear, good old Albany! 
you are a town to which I ever return with pleasure, for you at 
least never disappoint me. A firstrate country-place you are ; 
and, though I miss your quaint old Dutch church, and your 
rustic-looking old English church from the centre of your prin- 
cipal street, almost every change you make is respectable. I 
know nothing that tells so much against you as changing the 
name of Market street by the paltry imitation of Broadway ; 
but, considering that a horde of Yankees have come down upon 
you since the commencement of the present century, you arc 
lucky that the street was not called the Appian Way. But, 
excellent old Albany ! whom even the corruptions of politics 
cannot change in the core, lying against the hill-side, and sur- 
rounded with thy picturesque scenery, there is an air of re- 
spectability about thee that I admire, and a quiet prosperity 
that I love. Yet, how changed since my boyhood 1 Thy 
simple stoups have all vanished ; thy gables are disappearing ; 
marble and granite are rising in thy streets, t©o, but they take 
honest shapes, and are free from the ambition of mounting oti 
stilts ; thy basin has changed the whole character of thy once 
Bcmi-sylvau, semi-commercial river ; but it gives to thy young 
manhood an appearance of abundance and thrift that promise 
well for thy age !" 

The reader may depend on it that I laughed heartil}' at i\\u 



94 THEREDSKl^fS. 

rhapsody; for I could hardly enter into my uncle's feelings. 
Albany is certainly a very good sort of a place, and relatively a 
more respectable-looking town than the ^* commercial empo- 
rium," which, after all, externally, is a mere huge expansion of 
a very marked mediocrity, with the pretension of a capital in 
its estimate of itself. But Albany lays no claim to be any thing 
more than a provincial town, and in that class it is highly placed. 
By the way, there is nothing in which '^our people," to speak 
idiomatically, more deceive themselves, than in their estimate 
of what composes a capital. It would be ridiculous to suppose 
that the representatives of such a government as this could im- 
part to any place the tone, opinions, habits and manners of a 
capital, for, if they did, they would impart it on the novel prin- 
ciple of communicating that which they do not possess in their 
own persons. Congress itself, though tolerably free from most 
shackles, including those of the constitution, is not up to that. 
In my opinion, a man accustomed to the world might be placed 
blindfolded in the most finished quarter of New York, and the 
place has ncAv quarters in which the incongruities I have already 
mentioned do not exist, and, my life on it, he could pronounce, 
as soon as the bandage was removed, that he was not in a town 
where the tone of a capital exists. The last thing to make a 
capital is trade. Indeed the man who hears the words " busi- 
ness" and " the merchants" ringing in his ears, may safely con- 
clude, de facto, that he is not in a capital. Now, a New York 
village is often much less rustic than the villages of the most 
advanced country of Europe; but a New York town is many 
degrees below any capital of a large state in the old world. 

Will New York ever be a capital ? Yes — out of all question, 
yes. But the dfly will not come until after the sudden changes 
of condition which immediately and so naturally succeeded the 
revolution, have ceased to influence ordinary society, and those 
above again impart to those below more than they receive. This 
restoration to the natural state of things must take place, as soon 
as society gets settled; and there will be nothing to prevent a 
town living under our ov^'u iiistitutioiis — spirit, teii(/( ncim and 



THE REDSKINS. 95 

all — from obtaining the highest tone that ever yet prevailed in 
a capital. The folly is in anticipating the natural course of 
events. Nothing will more hasten these events, however^ than 
a literature that is controlled, not by the lower, but by the 
higher opinion of the country ; which literature is yet, in a great 
degree, to be created. 

I had dispensed with the monkey, after trying to get along 
with the creature for an hour or two, and went around only 
with my music. I would rather manage an army of anti-renters 
than one monkey. With the hurdy-gurdy slung around my 
neck, therefore, I followed my uncle, who actually sold another 
watch before we reached a tavern. Of course we did not pre- 
sume to go to Congress Hall, or the Eagle, for we knew we 
sho-uld not be admitted. This was the toughest part of our 
adventures. I am of opinion my uncle made a mistake ; for he 
ventured to a second-class house, under the impression that one 
of the sort usually frequented by men of our supposed stamp 
might prove too coarse for us, altogether. I think we should 
have been better satisfied with the coarse fare of a coarse tavern, 
than with the shabby-genteel of the house we blundered into. 
In the former, every thing would have reminded us, in a way 
we expected to be reminded, that we were out of the common 
track; and we might have been amused with the change, 
though it is one singularly hard to be endured. I remember to 
Imve heard a young man, accustomed from childhood to the 
better habits of the country, but who went to sea a lad, before 
the mast, declare that the coarseness of his shipmates — and there 
is no vulgarity about a true sailor, even when coarsest — gave him 
more trouble to overcome, than all the gales, physical sutFerings, 
labor, exposures and dangers, put together. I must confess, I 
have found it so, too, in my little experience. While acting as 
a strolling musician, I could get along with any thing better 
than the coarse habits which I encountered at the table. Your 
silver-forkisms, and your purely conventional customs, as a mat- 
ter of course, no man of the world attaches any serious impor- 
tance to; but there arc conventionalities that belong to the 



96 THK REDSKINS. 

fundamental principles of civilized society, which become sec- 
ond nature, and with which it gets to be hard, indeed, to dis- 
pense. I shall say as little as possible of the disagreeables of 
my new trade, therefore, but stick to the essentials. 

The morning of the day which succeeded that of our arrival 
at Albany, my uncle Ro and I took our seats in the train, in- 
tending to go to Saratoga, via Troy. I wonder the Trojan who 
first thought of playing this travestie on Homer, did not think 
of calling the place Troyville, or Troyborough! That would 
have been semi- American, at least, whereas the present appella- 
tion is so purely classical ! It is impossible to walk through 
the streets of this neat and flourishing town, which already 
counts its twenty thousand souls, and not have the images of 
Achilles and Hector, and Priam, and Hecuba, pressing on the 
imagination a little uncomfortably. Had the place been called 
Try, the name would have been a sensible one ; for it is trying 
all it can to get the better of Albany; and, much as I love the 
latter venerable old town, I hope Troy may succeed in its try- 
ing to prevent the Hudson from being bridged. By the way, I 
will here remark, for the benefit of those who have never seen 
any country but their own, that there is a view on the road 
between Schenectady and this Grecian place, just where the 
heights give the first full appearance of the valley of the Hud- 
son, including glimpses of Waterford, Lansingburg and Albany, 
with a full view of both Troys, which gives one a better idea of 
the afiiuence of European scenery than almost any other spot 
I can recall in America. To my hurdy-gurdy : 

I made my first essay as a musician in public beneath the 
windows of the principal inn of Troy. I cannot say much in 
favor of the instrument, though I trust the playing itself was 
somewhat respectable. This I know full well, that I soon 
brought a dozen fair faces to the windows of the inn, and that 
each was decorated with a smile. Then it was that I regretted 
the monkey. Such an opening could not but awaken the dor- 
mant ambition of even a "patriot" of the purest watei*, and I 
will own I was c;ratificd. 



THE KEDSKINb. 



97 



Among tlie curious who tlius appeared, wore two whom I at 
once supposed to be father and daughter. The former was a 
clergyman, and, as I fancied by something in his air of '■'■the 
Church," begging pardon of those who take offence at this 
exchisive title, and to whom I Avill just give a hint in passing. 
Any one at all acquainted with mankind, will at once under- 
stand that no man who is certain of possessing any particular 
advantage; ever manifests much sensibility because another lays 
claim to it also. In the constant struggles of the jealous, for 
instance, on the subject of that universal source of jealous feel- 
ing, social position, that man or woman who is conscious of 
claims never troubles himself or herself about them. For them 
the obvious fact is sufficient. If it be answered to this that the 
jiretension of '* the Church" is exclusive, I shall admit it is, and 
"conclusive," too. It is not exclusive, however, in the sense 
urged, since no one denies that there are many branches to 
"the Church," although those branches do not embrace every 
thing. I would advise those who take offence at " our" styling 
" ourselves" " the Church," to style themselves " the Church," 
just as they call all their parsons bishops, and see who will care 
about it. That is a touchstone which will soon separate the 
true metal from the alloy. 

My parson, I could easily see, was a Church clergyman — not 
a weeimy-house clergyman. How I ascertained that fact at a 
glance, I shall not reveal ; but I also saw in his countenance 
some of that curiosity which marks simplicity of character : it 
was not a vulgar feeling, but one which induced him to beckon 
me to approach a little nearer. I did so, when he invited me 
in. It was a little awkward, at first, I must acknowledge, to 
be beckoned about in this manner ; but there was something in 
the air and countenance of the daughter that induced me not 
to hesitate about complying. I cannot say that her beauty was so 
very striking, though she was decidedly pretty ; but the expres- 
sion of her face, eyes, smile, and all put together, was so sin- 
gularly sweet and feminine, that I felt impelled by a sympathy 
I shall not attempt to explain, to enter the house, and ascend 
5 



98 THE REDSKINS. 

to the door of a parlor that I saw at once was public, tlioagh it 
then contained no one Vat my proper hosts. 

" Walk in, young man," said the father, in a benevolent tone 
of voice. " I am curious to see that instrument ; and my 
daughter here, who has a taste for music, wishes it as much as 
I do myself. What do you call it ?" 

"Hurty-gurty," I answered. 

"From what part of the world do you come, my young 
friend?" continued the clergyman, raising his meek eyes to 
mine j^tih more curiously. 

*' Vroni Charmany; vrom Preusscn, vere did reign so late de 
good Koenig Wilhelm." 

" What does he say, Molly ?" 

So the pretty creature bore the name of Mary ! I liked the 
Molly, too ; it was a good sign, as none but the truly respect- 
able dare use such familiar appellations in these ambitious times. 
Molly sounded as if these people had the aplomb of position 
and conscious breeding. Had they been vulgar, it would have 
been Mollissa. 

" It is not difficult to translate, father," answered one of the 
sweetest voices that had ever poured its melody on my ear, 
and which was rendered still more musical by the slight laugh 
that mingled with it. " He says he is fi-om Germany — from 
Prussia, where the good King William lately reigned." 

I liked the "father," too — that sounded refreshing, after 
passing a night among a tribe of foul-nosed adventurers in 
luimanity, every one of whom had done his or her share to- 
ward caricaturing the once pretty appellatives of "pa" and 
"ma." A young lady may still say "papa," or even "mamma," 
though it were far better that she said " father" and " mother;" 
but as for "pa" and " ma," they are now done with in respect- 
able life. They will not even do for the nursery. 

"And this instrument is a hurdy-gurdy?" continued the 
clergyman. " What have we here — the name spelt on it ?" 

" Dat isht do maker's name-r^Ifpchstiel fecit.^^ 

" Fecit !" rppcatcd the clergyman ; "is that German ?" 



T II E It E D S K I N S . 99 

" Nein — dat isht Latin ; facio, feci, factum, facerc—feci^ 
feciste, FECIT. It means make, I suppose you know." 

The parson looked at me, and at my dress and figure with 
open surprise, and smiled as his eye glanced at his daughter. 
If asked why I made this silly display of lower-form learning, 
I can only say that I chafed at being fancied a mere every-day 
street musician, that had left his monkey at home, by the 
charming, girl who stood gracefully bending over her father's 
elbow, as the latter examined the inscription that was stamped 
on a small piece of ivory which had been let into the instru- 
ment. I could see that Mary shrunk back a little under the 
sensitive feeling, so natural to her sex, that she was manifesting 
too much freedom of manner for the presence of a youth who 
was nearer to her own class than she could have supposed it 
possible for a player on the hurdy-gurdy to be. A blush 
succeeded ; but the glance of the soft blue eye that instantly 
followed, seemed to set all at rest, and she leaned over her 
father's elbow again, 

"You understand Latin, then?" demanded the parent, ex- 
amining me over his spectacles from head to foot. 

" A leetle, sir — ^just a ferry leetle. In my coontry, efery 
mans isht obliget to be a soldier some time, and them t'at knows 
Latin can be made sergeants and corporals." 

" That is Prussia, is it?" 

" Ya — Preussen, vere so late did reign dc goot Koenig Wil- 
helin." 

"And is Latin much understood among you ? I have heard 
that, in Hungary, most well-informed persons even speak the 
tongue." 

" In Charmany it isht not so. We all I'arnts somet'ing,but 
not all dost Farn efery t'ing." 

" I could see a smile struggling around the sweet lips of that 
dear girl, after I had thus deUvered myself, as I fancied, with a 
most accurate inaccuracy ; but she succeeded in repressing it, 
though those provoking eyes of hers continued to laugh, much 
of the time our interview lasted. 



100 THE K E D S K I N S . 

" Ob ! I very well know that in Prussia tlie schools are quite 
good, and that your government pays great attention to the 
wants of all classes," rejoined the clergyman; "but I confess 
some surprise that you should understand any thing of Latin. 
Now, even in this country, where we boast so much — " 

" Ye-e-s," I could not refrain from drawling out, " dey d(»es 
poast a great teal in dis coontry !" 

Mary actually laughed ; whether it was at my words, or at 
the sumewhat comical manner I had assumed — a manner in 
which eimplicity was tant soil peu blended with irony — I shall 
not pretend to say. As for the father, his simplicity was 
of proof ; and, after civilly waiting until my interruption 
was done, he resumed what he had been on the point of 
saying. 

"J was about to add," continued the clergyman, " that even 
in this country, where we boast so much" — the little minx of a 
daughter passed her hand over her eyes, and fairly colored 
with the effort she made not to laugh again — " of the common 
schools, and of their influence on the public mind, it is not 
usual to find persons of your condition who understand the dead 
languages." 

" Ye-e-s," I replied ; "it isht my condition dat misleats you, 
sir. Mine fat'er wast a shentlemans, and he gifet me as goot an 
ctication as de Koenig did gif to de Kron Prinz." 

Here, my desire to appear well in the eyes of Mary caused 
rae to run into another silly indiscretion. How I was to explain 
the circumstance of the son of a Prussian gentleman, whose 
father had given him an education as good as that which the 
king of his country had given to its crown prince, being in the 
streets of Troy, playing on a hurdy-gurdy, was a difficulty I did 
not reflect on for a moment. The idea of being thought by 
that sweet girl a mere uneducated boor, was intolerable to me ; 
and I threw it off by this desperate falsehood — false in its acces- 
sories, but true in its main facts — as one would resent an insult. 
Fortune favored me, however, far more than I had any right to 
expect. 



THE REDSKINS. 101 

There is a singular disposition in the American character to 
believe every well-mannered European at least a count. I do 
not mean that those who have seen the world are not like other 
persons in this respect ; but a very great proportion of the 
country never has seen any other world than a world of " busi- 
ness." The credulity on this subject surpasseth belief; and, 
were I to relate facts of this nature that might be established 
in a court of justice, the very parties connected with tliera 
would be ready to swear that they are caricatures. Now, well- 
mannered I trust I am, and, though plainly dressed and thor- 
oughly disguised, neither my air nor attire was absolutely 
mean. As my clothes were ncAV, I was neat in my appearance ; 
and there were possibly some incongruities about the last, that 
might have struck eyes more penetrating than those of my 
companions. I could see that both father and daughter felt a 
lively interest in me, the instant I gave them reason to believe 
I was one of better fortunes. So many crude notions exist 
among lis on the subject of convulsions and revolutions in 
Europe, that I dare say, had I told any improbable tale of the 
political condition of Prussia, it would have gone down ; for 
nothing so much resembles the ignorance that prevails in 
America, generally, concerning the true state of things in 
Europe, as the ignorance that prevails in Europe, generally, 
concerning the true state of things in America. As for Mary, 
her soft eyes seemed to me to be imbued with thrice their cus- 
tomary gentleness and compassion, as she recoiled a step in 
native modesty, and gazed at me, when I had made my reve- 
lation. 

" If such is the case, my young friend," returned the clergy- 
man, with benevolent interest, "you ought, and mlr/ht easily be 
placed in a better position than this you are now in. Ilave you 
any knowledge of Greek ?" 

" Certainly — Greek is moch study in Charmany." 

" In for a penny, in for a pound," I thought. 

" And the modern languages — do you understand any of 
them?" 



102 THK REDSKINS. 

" I speaks de five great tongues of Europe, more ast les3 
well; and I read dem all, easily." 

" The j^ye tongues!" said the clergyman, counting on Ms 
fingers ; " what can they be, Mary ?" 

"French, and German, and Spanish, and Italian, I suppose, 
sir." 

"These make but four. What can be the fifth, my dear?" 

"De yoong laty forgets de Englisch. De Englisch is das 
funf." 

"Oh! yes, the English!" exclaimed the pretty creature, 
pressing her lips together to prevent laughing in my face. 

"True — I had forgotten the English, not being accustomed 
to think of it as a mere European tongue. I suppose, young 
man, you naturally speak the English less fluently than any 
other of your five languages?" 

"Ya!" 

Again the smile struggled to the lips of Mary. 

"I feel a deep interest in you as a stranger, and am sorry we 
have only met to part so soon. Which way shall you be likely 
to direct your steps, my Prussian young friend?" 

"I go to a place which is callet Ravensncst — goot place to 
sell vatch, dey tells me." 

"Ravensnest!" exclaimed the father. 

"Ravensnest!" repeated the daughter, and that in tones 
which put the hurdy-gurdy to shame. 

"Why, Ravensnest is the place where I live, and the parish 
of which I am the clergyman — the Protestant Episcopal clergy- 
man, I mean." 

Tills, then, Avas the Rev. Mr. Warren, the divine who had 
been called to our church the very summer I left home, and 
who had been there ever since! My sister ^lartha had written 
me much concerning these people, and I felt as if I had known 
them for years. Mr. Warren was a man of good connections, 
and some education, but of no fortune whatever, who had gone 
into the Church — it was the church of his ancestors, one of 
whom had actually been an English bishop, a century or two 



THE REDSKINS. lO'i 

ago — from clioice, and contrary to the wishes of his friends. 
As a preacher, his success had never been great; but for the 
discharge of his duties no man stood higher, and no man was 
more respected. The living of St. Andrew's, Ravensnest, would 
have been poor enough, had it depended on the contributions 
of the parishioners. These last gave about one hundred and 
fifty dollars a year, for their share of the support of a priest. I 
gave another hundred, as regularly as clock-work, and had been 
made to do so throughout a long minority; and my grand- 
mother and sister made up another fifty between them. But 
there was a glebe of fifty acres of capital land, a wood- lot, and 
a fund of two thousand dollars at interest; the whole proceed- 
ing from endowments made by my grandfather, during his 
lifetime. Altogether, the living may have bcea worth a clear 
five hundred dollars a year, in addition to a comfortable house, 
hay, wood, vegetables, pasture, and some advantages in the way 
of small crops. Few country clergymen were better off than 
the rector of St. Andrew's, Ravensnest, and all as a consequence 
of the feudal and aristocratic habits of the Littlepages, though I 
say it, perhaps, who might better not, in times like these. 

My letters had told me that the Rev. Mr. Wan-en was a wid- 
ower; that Mary was his only child ; that he was a irulif pious, 
not a s/t«??i-pious, and a really zealous clergyman; a man of. 
purest truth, whose word was gospel — of great simplicity and 
integrity of mind and character ; that he never spoke evil of 
others, and that a complaint of this world and its hardships 
seldom crossed his lips. He loved his fellow-creatures, both 
naturally and on principle ; mourned over the state of the dio- 
cese, and greatly preferred piety even to high-churchism. High- 
churchman he was, nevertheless; though it was not a high- 
<'hurchmanship that outweighed the loftier considerations of his 
Christian duties, and left him equally without opinions of his 
own in matters of morals, and without a proper respect, in prac- 
tice, for those that he had solemnly vowed to maintain. 

His daughter was described as a sweet-tempered, arch, mod- 
est, sensible, and well-bred girl, that had received a far better 



104 THE REDSKINS, 

education than lier father's means would have pcimitted hhn to 
bestow, through the Uberality and affection of a Avidowcd sister 
of her mother s, who was affluent, and had caused her to attend 
the same school as that to Avhich she had sent her own daugh- 
ters. In a word, she was a most charming neighbor ; and her 
presence at Ravensnest had rendered Martha's annual visits to 
the "old house" (built in 1785) not only less irksome, but 
actually pleasant. Such had been my sister's account of the 
Warrens and their qualities, throughout a correspondence of 
five years. I have even fancied that she loved this Mary 
AVarren better than she loved any of her uncle's wards, herself 
of course excepted. 

The foregoing flashed through my mind, the instant tlie 
clergyman announced himself; but the coincidence of our being 
on the way to the same part of the country, seemed to strike 
him as forcibly as it did myself. AVhat Mary thought of the 
matter, I had no means of ascertaining. 

"This is singular enough," resumed Mr. Warren. "What 
has directed your steps toward Ravensnest?" 

" Dey tell mine ooncle 'tis goot place to sell moch vatch." 

"You have an uncle, then? Ah! I see him there in the 
street, showing a watch at this moment to a gentleman. Is 
your uncle a linguist, too, and has he been as well educated as 
you seem to be yourself?" 

" Certain — he moch more of a shentleman dan ast de shen- 
tleman to whom he now sell vatch." 

"These must be the very persons," put in Mary, a little 
eagerly, " of whom Mr. Newcome spoke, as the" — the dear girl 
did not like to say peddlers, after what I had told them of my 
origin; so she added — "dealers in watches and trinkets, who 
intended to visit our part of the country." 

"You are right, my dear, and the whole matter is now clear. 
Mr. Newcome said he expected them to join us at Troy, when 
we should proceed in the train together as far as Saratoga. But 
here comes Opportunity herself, and her brother cannot be far 
oft-." 



THE REDSKINS. 105 

At that moment, sure enough, my old acquaintance, Oppor- 
tunity Newcome, came into the room, a public parlor, with an 
air of great self-satisfaction, and a nonchalance of manner that 
was not a little more peculiar to herself than it is to most of her 
caste. I trembled for my disguise, since, to be quite frank on 
a very delicate subject. Opportunity had made so very dead a 
set at me — " setting a cap" is but a pitiful phrase to express the 
assault I had to withstand — as scarcely to leave a hope that her 
feminine instinct, increased and stimulated with the wish to be 
mistress of the Nest house, could possibly overlook the thousand 
and one personal peculiarities that must still remain about one, 
whose personal peculiarities she had made her particular study. 



103 THE REDSKIK3. 



CHAPTER VI. 

" O, sic a geek she gave her head, 
And sic a toss she gave her feather ; 
Man, saw ye ne'er a bonnier lass 
Before, among the blooming heather?" 

Ali-an CUNNISaUAJC. 

"An! here are some charming French vif/nettesP cried Op- 
portunity, running up to a table wliere lay some inferior colored 
engravings, that were intended to represent the cardinal vii'tues, 
under the forms of tawdry female beauties. The workmanship 
was French, as were the inscriptions. Now, Opportunity knew 
just enough French to translate these inscriptions, simple and 
school-girl as they were, as wrong as they could possibly be 
translated, under the circumstances. 

^^La Vertue,'''' cried Opportunity, in a high, decided way, as 
if to make sure of an audience, ^^ The Viiiue; La SoUlude,'''' 
pronouncing the last word in a desperately English accent, 
" The Solitude ; La Charite, The Charity. It is really delight- 
ful, Mary, as 'Sarah Soothings' would say, to meet with these 
glimmerings of taste in this wilderness of the world." 

I wondered who the deuce "Sarah Soothings" could be, but 
afterward learned this was the nom-de-guerre of a female contrib- 
utor to the magazines, who, I dare say, silly as she might be, 
was never silly enough to record the sentiments Opportunity 
had just professed to repeat. As for The la Charlie, and The 
la Vertue, they did not in the least surprise me; for Martha, 
the hussy, often made herself merry by recording that young 
lady's tours de force in French. On one occasion I remember 
she wrote me, that when Opportunity wished to say. On est venu 
mc cher chc r, hmicad of saying "I am come for," in homely 



THE KED SKINS. 107 

English, wJiicli would liave beeu the best of all, slic had flowftv 
off in the higli flight of " Je suis venue liourT 

Mary smiled, for she comprehended perfectly the difiereiice 
between la Solitude and the Solitude; but she said nothing. I 
must acknowledge that I was so indiscreet as to smile also, 
though Opportunity's back being turned toward us, these mu- 
tual signs of intelligence that escaped us both through the eyes, 
opened a species of communication that, to me at least, Avas 
infinitely agreeable. 

Opportunity, having shown the owner of the strange figure 
at which she had just glanced on entering the room, that she 
had studied French, now turned to take a better look at him. I 
liavc reason to think my appearance did not make a very happy 
impression on her ; for she tossed her head, drew a chair, seat- 
ed herself in the manner most opposed to the descent of down, 
and opened her budget of news, without the least regard to my 
presence, and apparently with as little attention to the wishes 
and tastes of her companions. Iler accent, and jumping, 
hitching mode of speaking, with the high key in which she 
uttered her sentiments, too, all grated on my ears, which had 
become a little accustomed to different habits, in young ladies 
in particular, in the other hemisphere. I confess myself to be 
one of those who regard an even, quiet, graceful mode of ut- 
terance, as even a greater charm in a woman than beauty. It* 
effect is more lasting, and seems to be directly connected with 
the character. Mary Warren not only pronounced like one 
.accustomed to good society ; but the modulations of her voice, 
which was singularly sweet by nature, were even and agreeable, 
as is usual with well-bred women, and as far as possible from 
the jerking, fluttering, now rapid, now drawling manner of 
Opportunity. Perhaps, in this age of " loose attire," loose 
habits, and free and easy deportment, the speech denotes the 
gentleman, or the lady, more accurately than any other off-hand 
test. 

" Sen is enough to wear out any body's patience !" ex- 
claimed 0})portunity. " Wc must quit Troy in half an hoiir; 



J Ob TIIEREDSKINS. 

and I have visits that I ought to pay to Miss Jones, and Miss 
White, and Miss Black, and Miss Green, and Miss Brown, 
and three or four others ; and I can't get him to come near 
me." 

"Why not go alone?" asked Mary, quietly. "It is but a 
step to two or three of the houses, and you cannot possibly lose 
your way. I will go with you, if you desire it." 

" Oh ! lose my Avay ? no, indeed ! I know it too well for 
that. I wasn't educated in Troy, not to know something of the 
streets. But it looks so, to see a young lady walking in the 
streets without a beau ! I never wish to cross a room in com- 
pany without a beau ; much less to cross a street. No ; if Sen 
don't come in soon, I shall miss seeing every one of my friends, 
and that will be a desperate disappointment to us all ; but it 
can't be helped ; walk without a beau I ivill not, if I never see 
one of them again." 

' ' Will you accept of me. Miss Opportunity ?" asked Mr. 
Warren. " It will atford me pleasure to be of service to you." 

*' Lord ! Mr. AVarren, you don't think of setting up for a 
beau at your time of life, do you ? Every body would see that 
you're a clergyman, and I might just as well go alone. No, 
if Sen don't come in at once, I must lose my visits ; and the 
young ladies will be so put out about it, I know ! Araminta 
Maria wrote me, in the most particular manner, never to go 
through Troy without stopping to see her, if I didn't see an- 
other mortal ; and Katheriwc Clotilda has as much as said she 
would never forgive me if I passed her door. But Seneca 
cares no more for the friendship of young ladies, than he does" 
— Miss Newcome pronounced this word " doos," notwithstand- 
ing her ediication, as she did "been," "ben," and fifty others 
just as much out of the common way — "But Seneca cares no 
more for the friendship of young ladies, than he does for the 
young patroon. I declare, Mr. Warren, I believe Sen will go 
crazy unless the anti-renters soon get the best of it ; he does 
nothing but think and talk of ' rents,' and ' aristocracy,' and 
'poodle usages,' from morning till night." 



T II E R K D S K I N S . 109 

Wc all smiled at the little mistake of Miss Opportunity, but 
it was of no great consequence ; and I dare say she knew wliat 
she meant as well as most others who use the same term, 
though they spell it more accurately. *' Poodle usages" are 
quite as applicable to any thing now existing in America, as 
" feudal usages." 

" Your brother is, then, occupied with a matter of the last 
importance to the community of which he is a member," ai>- 
swered the clergyman, gravely. " On the termination of this 
anti-rent question hangs, in my judgment, a vast amount of 
the future character, and much of the future destiny, of New 
York." 

"I wonder, now? I'm surprised to hear you say this, Mr. 
Warren, for generally you're thought to be unfriendly to the 
movement. Sen says, however, that every thing looks well, 
and that he believes the tenants will get their lands throughout 
the state before they've done with it. He tells me wc shall 
have Injins enough this summer at Ravensnest. The visit of 
old Mrs. Littlepage has raised a spirit that will not easily be put 
down, he says." 

" And why should the visit of Mrs. Littlepage to the house 
uf her grandson, and to the house built by her own husband, 
and in which she passed the happiest days of her life, ' raise a 
sj)irit,' as you call it, in any one in that part of the country ?" 

" Oh ! you're Episcopal, Mr. Warren ; and we all know how 
the Episcopals feel about such matters. But, for my part, I 
don't think the Littlepages are a bit better than the Newcoraes, 
though I won't liken them to some I could name at Ravens- 
nest ; but I don't think they are any better than you, your- 
self ; and why should they ask so much more of the law than 
other folks." 

" I am not aware that they do ask more of the law than 
others ; and, if they do, I'm sure they obtain less. The law in 
this cojintry is virtually administered by jurors, who take good 
oarc to gi'aduate justice, so far as they can, by a scale suited to 
their own opinions, and, quite often, to their prejudices. As 



110 THE REDSKINS. 

the last are so universally opposed to persons in Mrs. Littlepage's 
class in life, if there be a chance to make her suffer, it is pretty 
certain it will be improved." 

" Sen says he can't see why he should pay rent to a Little- 
page, any more than a Littlepage should pay rent to him." 

"I am sorry to hear it, since there is a very sufficient reason 
for the former, and no reason at all for the latter. Your brother 
uses the land of Mr. Littlepage, and that is a reason why he 
should pay him rent. If the case were reversed, then, indeed, 
Mr. Littlepage should pay rent to your brother." 

" But what reason is there that these Littlepages should go 
on from father to son, from generation to generation, as our 
landlords, when we're just as good as they. It's time there 
was some change. Besides, only think, we've been at the 
mills, now, hard upon eighty years, grandpa having first settled 
there ; and we have had thcra very mills, now, for three gener- 
ations among us." 

"High time, therefore. Opportunity, that there should be 
some change," put in Mary, Avitli a demure smile. 

" Oh ! you're so intimate with Marthy Littlepage, I'm not 
surprised at any thing you think or say. But reason is reason, 
for all that. I haven't the least grudge in the world against 
young Hugh Littlepage; if foreign lands haven't spoilt him, as 
they say they're desperate apt to do, he's an agreeable young 
gentleman, and I can't say that he used to think himself any 
better than other folks," 

" I should say none of the family are justly liable to the charge 
of so doing," returned Mary. 

" Well, I'm amazed to hear you say that, Mary AVarren. To 
my taste, Marthy Littlepage is as disagreeable as she can be. 
If the anti-rent cause had nobody better than she is to oppose 
it, it would soon triumph." 

" May I ask. Miss Ncwcome, what particular reason you 
have for so thinking ?" asked Mr. Warren, who had kept his eye 
on the yoimg lady the whole time she liad been thus running 
on, with an interest that struck me as somewhat exaggerated, 



THE REDSKINS. Ill 

when one remembered the character of the sjieaker, and the 
value of her remarks. 

" I think so, Mr. Warren, because every body says so," was 
the answer. "If Marthy Littlepage don't think herself better 
than other folks, why don't she act like other folks. Nothing 
is good enough for her in her own conceit." 

Poor little Patt, who was the very beau ideal of nature and 
simplicity, as nature and simplicity manifest themselves under 
the influence of refinement and good-breeding, was here accused 
of fancying herself better than this ambitious young lady, for 
no other reason than the fact of the little distinctive pecu- 
liarities of her air and deportment, which Opportunity had 
found utterly unattainable, after one or two efforts to compass 
them. In this very fact is the secret of a thousand of the ab- 
surdities and vices that are going up and down the land at this 
moment, like raging lions, seeking whom they may devour. 
Men often turn to their statute-books and constitution to find 
the sources of obvious evils, that, in truth, have their origin in 
some of the lowest passions of human nature. The entrance 
of Seneca at that moment, however, gave a new turn to the 
discourse, though it continued substantially the same. I re- 
marked that Seneca entered with his hat on, and that he kept 
his head covered during most of the interview that succeeded^ 
notwithstanding the presence of the two young ladies and the 
divine. As for myself, I had been so free as to remove my cap, 
though many might suppose it Avas giving myself airs, Avhile 
others would have imagined it was manifesting a degree of re- 
spect to human beings that was altogether unworthy of freemen. 
It is getting to be a thing so particular and aristocratic to take 
ofT the hat on entering a house, that few of the humbler demo- 
crats of America now ever think of it ! 

As a matter of course. Opportunity upbraided her delinquent 
brother for not appearing sooner to act as her beau; after which, 
she permitted him to say a word for himself. That Seneca was 
in high good-humor, was easily enough to be seen; he even 
rubbed his hands together in the excess of his delight. 



112 THEREDSKINS. 

"Something lias happened to please Sen," cried the sister, 
her own mouth on a broad grin, in her expectation of coming 
in for a share of the gratification. '* I wish you would get liim 
to tell us what it is, Mary ; he'll tell you any thing." 

I cannot describe how harshly this remark grated on my 
nerves. The thought that Mary Warren could consent to exer- 
cise even the most distant influence over such a man as Seneca 
Newcome, was to the last degree unpleasant to me, and I could 
have wished that she would openly and indignantly repel the 
notion. But Mary Warren treated the whole matter very much 
as a person who was accustomed to such remarks would be apt 
to do. I cannot say that she manifested either pleasure or dis- 
pleasure; but a cold indifference was, if any thing, uppermost 
in her manner. Possibly, I should have been content with 
this ; but I found it very difficult to be so. Seneca, however, 
did not wait for Miss Warren to exert her influence to induce 
him to talk, but appeai-ed Avell enough disposed to do it of his 
own accord. 

" Something has happened to please me, I must own," he an- 
swered; "and I would as lief Mr. Warren should know Avhat 
it is, as not. Things go ahead finely among us anti-renters, and 
we shall carry all our p'ints before long !" 

" I wish I were certain no points would be carried but those 
that ought to be carried, Mr. Newcome," was the answer. "But 
what has happened, lately, to give a new aspect to the affair?" 

"We're gaining strength among the politicians. Both sides 
are beginning to court us, and the 'spirit of the institutions 
will shortly make themselves respected." 

" I am delighted to hear that ! It is in the intention of the 
institutions to repress covetousncss, and uncharitableness, and 
all frauds, and to do nothing but what is right," observed Mr. 
Warren. 

" Ah ! here comes my friend the travelling jeweller," said 
Seneca, interrupting the clergyman, in order to salute my uncle, 
who at that instant showed himself in the door of the room, 
cap in hand. "Walk in, Mr. Dafidson, since that is your name* 



TIIERKDBKINS. 113 

Ilcv, Mr. '\^^an■cn — Miss Mary Warren — Miss Opportunity New- 
corac, my sister, who will be glad to look at your wares. The 
cars will be detained on some special business, and we have 
plenty of time before us." 

All this was done with a coolness and indifference of manner 
which went to show that Seneca had no scruples whatever on 
the subject of whom he introduced to any one. As for my un- 
cle, accustomed to these free and easy manners, and probably 
not absolutely conscious of the figure he cut in his disguise, he 
bowed rather too much like a gentleman for one of his present 
calling, though my previous explanation of our own connection 
and fallen fortunes had luckily prepared the way for this deport- 
ment. 

" Come in, Mr. Dafidson, and open your box — my sister may 
fancy some of your trinkets; I never knew a girl that didn't." 

The imaginary pedlar entered, and placed his box on a table 
near which I was standing, the whole party immediately gather- 
ing around it. My presence had attracted no particular atten- 
tion from either Seneca or his sister, the room being public, and 
my connection with the vender of trinkets known. In the mean 
time, Seneca was too full of his good news to let the subject 
drop; while the watches, rings, chains, brooches, bracelets, etc., 
Avere passed under examination. 

"Yes, Mr. Warren, I trust we are about to have a complete 
development of the spirit of our institutions, and that in futur' 
there will be no privileged classes in New York, at least." 

" The last will certainly be a great gain, sii'," the divine 
coldly answered. "Hitherto, those who have most suppressed 
the truth, and who have most contributed to the circulation of 
flattering falsehoods, have had undue advantages in Ameri- 
ca." 

Seneca, obviously enough, did not like this sentiment ; but 1 
thought, by his manner, that he was somewhat accustomed to 
meeting with such rebuffs from Mr. Warren. 

"I suppose you will admit there are privileged classes now 
among us, Mr. Warren ?" 



114 THEREDSKINS. 

"I am ready enougli to allow that, sir; it is too plain to be 
denied." 

**Wa-all, I should like to hear you p'int'em out; that I might 
see if we agree in our sentiments." 

"Demagogues are a highly privileged class. The editors of 
newspapers are another highly privileged class ; doing things, 
daily and hourly, which set all law and justice at defiance, and 
invading, with perfect impunity, the most precious rights of 
their fellow-citizens. The power of both is enormous; and, as 
in all cases of great and irresponsible power, both enormously 
abuse it." 

"Wa-all, that's not my way of thinking at all. In my judg- 
ment, the privileged classes in this country are your patroons 
and your landlords ; men that's not satisfied with a reasonable 
quantity of land, but who wish to hold more than the rest of 
their fellow-crcatur's." 

"I am not aware of a single privilege that any patroon — of 
whom, by the way, there no longer exists one, except in name 
— or any landlord, possesses over any one of his fellow-citizens." 

" Do you call it no privilege for a man to hold all the land 
there may happen to be in a township? I call tliat a great 
])rivilege ; and such as no man should have in a free country. 
Other 2)eople want land as well as your Van Kensselaers and 
Littlepages; and other people mean to have it, too." 

" On that principle, every man who owns more of any one 
thing than his neighbor is privileged. Even I, poor as I am, 
and am believed to be, am privileged over you, Mr. Newcome. 
I own a cassock, and have two gowns, one old and one new, 
and various other things of the sort, of which you have not one. 
What is more, I am privileged in another sense ; since I can 
irnar my cassock and gown, and bands, and do wear them often ; 
whereas you cannot wear one of them all without making your- 
self laughed at." 

" Oh ! but them arc not privileges I care any thing about, if I 
did I would put on the things, as the law does not prohibit 
it." 



THE REDSKINS. 115 

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Newcome; tlie law docs prohibit 
you from -wearing my cassock and gown contrary to my 
wishes." 

"Wa-all, Ava-all, Mr. Warren; we never shall quarrel about 
that; I don't desire to wear your cassock and gown." 

"I understand you, then; it is only the things that you desire 
to use that you deem it a privilege for the law to leave me." 

"I am afraid we shall never agree, Mr. Warren, about this 
anti-rent business; and I'm very sorry for it, as I wish particu- 
larly to think as you do," glancing his eye most profanely to- 
ward Mary as he spoke. "I am for the movement-principle, 
while you are too much for the stand-still doctrine." 

" I am certainly for remaining stationary, Mr. Newcome, if 
progress mean taking away the property of old and long estab- 
lished families in the country, to give it to those whose names 
are not to be found in our history ; or, indeed, to give it to any 
but those to whom it rightfully belongs." 

""We shall never agree, my dear sir, we shall never agree;" 
then, turning toward my uncle with the air of superiority that 
the vulgar so easily assume — " What do you say to all this, 
friend Dafidson — are you up-rent or down-rent ?" 

*' Ja, mynheer," was the quiet answer ; " I always downs mit 
der rent vens I leave a house or a gartcn. It is goot to pay de 
debts ; ja, it ist herr goot." 

This answer caused the clergyman and his daughter to smile, 
while Opportunity laughed outright. 

"You won't make much of your Dutch friend, Sen," cried 
this buoyant young lady ; "he says you ought to keep on pay- 
ing rent!" 

" I apprehend Mr. Dafidson does not exactly understand the 
case," answered Seneca, who Avas a good deal disconcerted, but 
was bent on maintaining his point. "I have understood you 
to say that you are a man of liberal principles, Mr. Dafidson, 
and that you've come to America to enjoy the light of intelli- 
gence and the benefits of a free government." 

" Ja ; ven I might coome to America, I say, veil, dat 'tis a 



IIG THE REDSKINS. 

goot coontry, vliere an honest man miglit liaf vhat he 'arns, ant 
keep it, too. Ja, ja ! dat ist vhat I say, ant vhat I dinks." 

" I understand you, sir; you come from a part of the worla 
where the nobles eat up the fat of the land, taking the poor man's 
share as well as their own, to live in a country where the law is, 
or soon will be, so equal that no citizen will dare to talk about 
his estates, and hurt the feelin's of such as haven't got any." 

My uncle so Avell affected an innocent perplexity at the drift 
of this remark as to make me smile, in spite of an eflbrt to 
conceal it. Mary "Warren saw that smile, and another glance 
of intelligence was exchanged between us ; though the young 
lady immediately withdrew her look, a little consciously and 
with a slight blush. 

" I say that you like equal laws and equal privileges, friend 
Dalidson," continued Seneca, with emphasis ; " and that you 
have seen too much of the evils of nobility and of feudal 
oppression in the old world, to wish to fall in with them in the 
new." 

" Der noples ant der feudal privileges ist no goot," answered 
the trinket-peddler, shaking his head with an appearance of great 
distaste. 

"Ay, I knew it would be so ; you see, Mr. Warren, no man 
who has ever lived under a feudal system can ever feel other- 
wise." 

" But what have we to do with feudal systems, Mr. New- 
come ? and what is there in common between the landlords of 
New York and the nobles of Europe, and between their leases 
and feudal tenures ?" 

"What is there? A vast deal too much, sir, take my word 
for it. Do not our very governors, even while ruthlessly calling 
on one citizen to murder another — " 

"Nay, nay, Mr. Newcome," interrupted Mary Warren, 
laughing, "the governors call on the citizens not to murder 
each other." 

" I understand you. Miss Mary ; but we shall make anti- 
renters of you both before wc are done. Surely, sir, there is a 



TUKKEDSKINS. 117 

great deal too much resemblance between the nobles of Europe 
and our landlords, Avhen the honest and freeborn tenants of 
the last are obliged to pay tribute for permission to live on the 
very land that they till, and which they cause to bring forth its 
increase." 

" But men who are not noble let their lands in Europe ; nay, 
the very serfs, as they become free and obtain riches, buy lands 
and let them, in some parts of the old world, as I have heard 
and read." 

"All feudal, sir. The whole system is pernicious and feudal, 
serf or no serf." 

"But, Mr. Newcome," said Mary Warren, quietly, though 
with a sort of demure irony in her manner that said she was not 
without humor, and understood herself very well, " even you let 
your land — land that you lease, too, and which you do not own, 
except as you hire it from Mr. Littlepage." 

Seneca gave a hem, and was evidently disconcerted ; but he 
had too much of the game of the true progressive movement — 
which merely means to lead in changes, though they may lead 
to the devil — to give the matter up. Repeating the hem, more 
to clear his brain than to clear his throat, he hit upon his an- 
swer, and brought it out with something very like triumph. 

" That is one of the evils of the present system. Miss Mary. 
Did I own the two or three fields you mean, and to attend to 
which I have no leisure, I might sell them ; but now it is im- 
possible, since I can give no deed. The instant my poor uncle 
dies — and he can't survive a week, being, as you must know, 
nearly gone — the whole property, mills, taverns, farms, timber- 
lot and all, fall in to young Hugh Littlepage, who is oflf frolick- 
ing in Europe, doing no good to himself or others, I'll venture 
to say, if tue truth were known. That is another of the hard- 
ships of the feudal system ; it enables one man to travel in 
idleness, wasting his substance in foreign lands, while it keeps 
another at home, at the plough-handles and the cart-tail." 

"And why do you suppose Mr. Hugh Littlepage wastes his 
substance, and is doing himself and country no good in foreign 



118 THE KED SKINS. 

lands, Mr. Newcome ? That is not at all tlie character I hear 
of him, nor is it the result that I expect to see from his travels." 

" The money he spends in Europe might do a vast deal of 
good at Ravensnest, sir." 

" For my part, my dear sir," put in Mary again, in her quiet 
but pungent way, "I think it remarkable that neither of our 
late governors has seen fit to enumerate the facts just mentioned 
by Mr. Newcome among those that arc opposed to the spirit of 
the institutions. It is, indeed, a great hardship that Mr. Seneca 
Newcome cannot sell Mr. Hugh Littlepage's land." ' 

" I complain less of that," cried Seneca, a little hastily, " than 
of the circumstance that all my rights in the property must go 
with the death of my uncle. That, at least, even you. Miss 
Mary, must admit is a great hardship." 

"If your uncle were unexpectedly to revive, and live twenty 
years, Mr. Newcome " 

" No, no. Miss Mary," answered Seneca, shaking his head in 
a melancholy manner ; that is absolutely impossible. It would 
not surprise me to find him dead and buried on our return." 

" But, admit that you may be mistaken, and that your lease 
should continue — you would still have a rent to pay ?" 

" Of that I wouldn't complain in the least. If Mr. Dunning, 
Littlepage's agent, will just promise, in as much as half a sen- 
tence, that we can get a new lease on the old terms, I'd not say 
a syllable about it." 

" Well, here is one proof that the system has its advantages 1" 
exclaimed Mr. "Warren, cheerfully. "I'm delighted to hear 
you say this ; for it is something to have a class of men among 
us whose simple promises, in a matter of money, have so much 
value ! It is to be hoped that their example will not be lost." 

" Mr. Newcome has made an admission I am also glad to 
hear," added Mary, as soon as her father had done speaking. 
"His willingness to accept a new lease on the old terms is a 
proof that he has been living under a good bargain for himself 
hitherto, and that down to the present moment he has been the 
ooliged party." 



T II E U E D S K I N S . 119 

This was very simply said, but it bothered Seneca amazingly. 
As for myself, I was delighted with it, and could have kissed 
the pretty, arch creature who had just uttered the remark ; 
though I will own that as much might have been done without 
any great reluctance, had she even held her tongue. As for 
Seneca, he did what most men are apt to do when they havp 
the consciousness of not appearing particularly well in a given 
point of view ; he endeavored to present himself to the eyes of 
his companions in another. 

"There is one thing, Mr. Warren, that I think you will ad- 
mit ought not to be," he cried, exulting, "whatever Miss Mary 
thinks about it ; and that is, that the Littlepage pew in your 
church ought to come down." 

" I will not say that much, Mr. Newcome, though I rather 
think my daughter will, I believe, my dear, you are of Mr. 
Newcome's way of thinking in respect to this canopied pew, 
and also in respect to the old hatchments ?" 

"I wish neither was in the church," answered Mary, in a 
low voice. 

From that moment I Avas fully resolved neither should be, as 
soon as I got into a situation to control the matter. 

"In that I agree with you entirely, my child," resumed the 
clergyman ;" and were it not for this movement connected with 
the rents, and the false principles that have been so boldly an- 
nounced of late years, I might have taken on myself the authori- 
ty, as rector, to remove the hatchments. Even according to 
the laws connected with the use of such things, they should 
have been taken away a generation or two back. As to the 
pew, it is a different matter. It is private property ; was con- 
stiucted with the church, which was built itself by the joint 
liberality of the Littlepages and mother Trinity ; and it would 
be a most ungracious act to undertake to destroy it under 
such circumstances, and more especially in the absence of ita 
owner." 

"You agree, however, that it ought not to bo there 2" asked 
Seneca, with exultation. 



Il'O the redskins. 

" I wish with all my heart it were not. I dislike every thing 
like worldly distinction in the house of God ; and heraldic em- 
blems, in particular, seem to me very much out of place where 
the cross is seen to be in its proper place." 

" Wa-all, now, Mr. AVarren, I can't say I much fancy crosses 
about churches cither. What's the use in raising vain distinc- 
tions of any sort. A church is but a house, after all, and ought 
so to be regarded." 

"True," said Mary, firmly ; " but the house of God." 

*' Yes, yes, we all know, Miss Mary, that you Episcopalian" 
look more at outward things, and more respect outward things, 
than most of the other denominations of the country." 

" Do you call leases ' outward things,' Mr. Newcome ?" asked 
Mary, archly; "and contracts, and bargains, and promises, and 
the rights of property, and the obligation to * do as you would 
be done by V " 

"Law! good folks," cried Opportunity, who had been all 
this time tumbling over the trinkets, " I wish it was ' down 
with the rent' forever, Avith all my heart ; and that not another 
word might ever be said on the subject. Here is one of the 
prettiest pencils, Mary, I ever did see; and its price is only four 
dollars. I wish, Sen, you'd let the rent alone, and make me a 
present of this very pencil." 

As this was an act of which Seneca had not the least intention 
of being guilty, he merely shifted his hat from one side of his 
head to the other, began to whistle, and then he coolly left the 
room. My uncle Ro profited by the occasion to beg Miss Op- 
portunity would do him the honor to accept the pencil as an 
offering from himself. 

" You an't surely in earnest !" exclaimed Opportunity, flush- 
ing up with surprise and pleasure. " Why, you told me the 
price was four dollars; and even that seems to me desperate 
'ittle !" 

" Dat ist de price to anudder," said the gallant trinket- 
dealer ; " but dat ist not de price to you. Miss Opportunity. 
Vc shall trafol togeddcr ; ant vhcn ve gets to your coontry you 



THE UED SKINS. 121 

vill dell me de best houses vhere I might go mit my vatches ant 
drink ets." 

" That I will ; and get you in at the Nest house, in the bar- 
gain," cried Opportunity, pocketing the pencil without further 
parley. 

In the mean time my uncle selected a very neat seal, the 
handsomest he had, being of pure metal, and having a real 
topaz in it, and offered it to Mary Warren, with his best bow. 
I watched the clergyman's daughter with anxiety, as I witness- 
ed the progress of this galanterie, doubting and hoping at each 
change of the ingenuous and beautiful countenance of her to 
whom the offering was made. Mary colored, smiled, seemed 
embarrassed, and, as I feared, for a single moment doubting ; 
but I must have been mistaken, as she drew back, and, in the 
sweetest manner possible, declined to accept the present. I 
saw that Opportunity's having just adopted a different course 
added very much to her embarrassment, as otherwise she might 
have said something to lessen the seeming ungraciousness of 
the refusal. Luckily for herself, however, she had a gentleman 
to deal with, instead of one in the station that my uncle Eo 
had voluntarily assumed. When this offering was made, the 
pretended peddler was ignorant altogether of the true charac- 
ters of the clergyman and his daughter, not even knowing that 
he saw the rector of St. Andrew's, Ravensnest. But the man- 
ner of Mary at once disabused him of an error into which he 
had fallen through her association Avith Opportunity, and he 
now; drew back himself with perfect tact, bowing and apologiz- 
ing in a way that I thought must certainly betray his disguise. 
It did not, however; for Mr. Warren, with a smile that denoted 
equally, satisfaction at his daughter's conduct and a grateful 
sense of the other's intended liberality, but with a simplicity 
that was of proof, turned to me and begged a tune on the flute, 
which I had drawn from my pocket and was holding in my 
hand, as expecting some such invitation. 

If I have any accomplishment, it is connected with music ; 
and particularly with the management of the flute. On this 
6 



122 TIIK UED SKINS. 

occasion I was not at all backward about showing off, and I 
executed two or three airs, from the best masters, with as much 
care as if I had been playing to a salon in one of the best qnar- 
ter» of Paris. I could see that Mary and her father were both 
surprised at the execution, and that the first was delighted. 
We had a most agreeable quarter of an hour together ; and 
might have had two, had not Opportunity — ^who was certainly 
well named, being apropos of every thing — begun of her OAvn 
accord to sing, though not without inviting Mary to join her. 
As the latter declined this public exhibition, as well as my uncle 
Ko's offering, Seneca's sister had it all to herself; and she sang 
no less than three songs, in quick succession, and altogether 
unasked. I shall not stop to characterize the music or the words 
of these songs, any further than to say they were all, more or 
less, of the Jim Crow school, and executed in a way that did 
them ample justice. 

As it was understood that we were all to travel in the same 
train, the interview lasted until we were ready to proceed ; nor 
did it absolutely terminate then. As Mary and Opportunity 
sat together, Mr. Warren asked me to share his seat, regardless 
of the hurdy-gurdy; though my attire, in addition to its being 
perfectly new and neat, was by no means of the mean character 
that it is usual to see adorningr street-music in jjeneral. On the 
whole, so long as the instrument was not en evidence, I might 
not have seemed very much out of place seated at Mr. Warren's 
side. In this manner we proceeded to Saratoga, my uncle 
keeping up a private discourse the whole way, with Seneca, on 
matters connected with the rent movement. 

As for the divine and myself, we had also much intei'esting 
talk together. I was questioned about Europe in general, and 
Germany in particular ; and had reason to think my answere 
gave surprise as well as satisfaction. It was not an easy matter 
to preserve the Doric of my assumed dialect, though practice 
and fear contributed their share to render me content to resort 
to it. I made many mistakes, of course, but my listeners were 
xiot the persons to discover them. I say my listeners, for I soon 



THE REDSKINS. 



19'>. 



ascertained that Mary Warren, who sat on the seat directly 
before us, was a profoundly attentive listener to all that passed. 
This circumstance did not render me the less communicative, 
though it did increase the desire I felt to render what I said 
worthy of such a listener. As for Opportunity, she read a 
newspaper a little while, munched an apple a very little while, 
and slept the rest of the way. But the journey between modern 
Troy and Saratoga is not a long one, and was soon accom- 
plished. 




124 THE REDSKINS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

" I will tell you; 
Tt'jYiu'U bestow a small (of what you Lave littleX 
Patience, a while, you'll hear the belly's answer." 

Mknenitjs Aoeippa. 

At tLe springs we parted, Mr. Warren and his friends find- 
ing a conveyance, with their own horses, in readiness to carry 
them the remainder of the distance. As for my uncle and my- 
self, it was understood that we were to get on in the best man- 
ner we could, it being expected that we should reach Ravens- 
nest in the course of a day or two. According to the theory 
of our new business, we ought to travel on foot, but we had a 
reservation in petto that promised us also the relief of a com- 
fortable wagon of some sort or other. 

** Well," said my uncle, the moment we had got far enough 
from our new acquaintance to be out of ear-shot, "I must say 
one thing in behalf of Mr. Seneky, as he calls himself, or Sen, 
as his elegant sister calls him, and that is, that I believe him to 
be one of the biggest scoundrels the state holds." 

"This is not drawing his character en heau^'' I answered, 
laughing. " But why do you come out so decidedljf^ upon him 
at this particular moment ?" 

"Because this particular moment happens to be the first in 
which I have had an opportunity to say any thing since I have 
known the rascaL You must have remarked that the fellow 
held me in discourse from the time we left Troy until we stop- 
ped here." 

"Certainly; I could see that his tongue was in motion un- 
ceasingly ; what he said, I have to conjecture." 

" He said enough to lay bare his whole character. Our sub- 
ject was anti-rent, which he commenced with a view to explain 



THE REDSKINS. 125 

it to a foreigner ; but I managed to lead him on, step by step, 
until he let me into all his notions and expectations on the sub- 
ject. Why, Hugh, the villain actually proposed that you and 
I should enlist, and turn ourselves into two of the rascally mock 
redskins." 

" Enlist ! Do they still persevere so far as to keep up that 
organization, in the very teeth of the late law ?" 

"The law ! What do two or three thousand voters care for 
any penal law, in a country like this? Who is to enforce 
the law against them? Did they commit murder, and were 
they even convicted, as might happen under the excitement of 
Buch a crime, they very well know nobody would be hanged. 
Honesty is always too passive in matters that do not imme- 
diately press on its direct interests. It is for the interest of 
every honest man in the state to set his face against this anti- 
rent movement, and to do all he can, by his vote and influence, 
to put it down into the dirt, out of which it sprang, and 
into which it should be crushed ; but not one in a hundred, 
even of those who condemn it toto ccelo, Avill go a foot out of 
their way even to impede its progress. All depends on those 
who have the power; and they will exert that power so as 
to conciliate the active rogue, rather than protect the honest 
man. You are to remember that the laws are executed here on 
the principle that ' what is every body's business is nobody's 
business.' " 

"You surely do not believe that the authorities will Avink at 
an open violation of the laws !" 

" That will depend on the characters of individuals ; most 
will, but some will not. You and I would be punished soon 
enough, were there a chance, but the mass would escape. Oh ! 
we have had some precious disclosures in our corner of the car ! 
The two or three men who joined Newcome are from anti-rent 
districts, and seeing me with their friend, little reserve has been 
practised. One of those men is an anti-rent lecturer ; and, 
being somewhat didactic, he favored mo with some of his argu- 
ments, scrialhnj'^ 



126 THE REDSKINS. 

" How ! Have they got to lectures ? I should have sup- 
posed the newspapers would have been the means of circulating 
their ideas." 

"Oh, the newspapers, like hogs swimming too freely, have 
cut their own throats ; and it seems to be fashionable, just at 
this moment, not to believe them. Lecturing is the great moral 
lever of the nation at present." 

"But a man can lie in a lecture, as well as in a news- 
paper." 

" Out of all question ; and if many of the lecturers are of 
the school of this Mr. Holmes — ' Lecturer Holmes,' as Seneca 
called him — but, if many are of his school, a pretty set of lib- 
erty-takers with the truth must they be." 

"You detected him, then, in some of these liberties?" 

"In a hundred: nothing was easier than for a man in my 
situation to do that; knowing, as I did, so much of the history 
of the land-titles of the state. One of his arguments partakes 
so largely of the weak side of our system, that I must give it to 
you. He spoke of the gravity of the disturbances — of the im- 
portance to the peace and character of the state of putting an 
end to them ; and then, by way of corollary to his proposition, 
produced a scheme for changing the titles, in order to satisfy 

THE PEOPLE 1" 

"The people, of course, meaning the tenants; the landlords 
and their rights passing for nothing." 

"That is one beautiful feature of the morality — an eye, or 
a cheek, if you will — but here is the nose, and highly Roman it 
is. A certain portion of the community wish to get rid of the 
obligations of their contracts; and finding it cannot be done by 
law, they resort to means that are opposed to all law, in order 
to eilect their purposes. Public law-breakers, violators of the 
public peace, they make use of their own wrong as an argu- 
ment for perpetuating another that can be perpetuated in no 
other way. I have been looking over some of the papers con- 
taining proclamations, etc., and find that both law-makers and 
law-breakers are of one mind as to this charming policy. With- 



T H E R E D 3 K I >: 5 . 1 2 7 

out a single manly cftbrt to put down tlic atrocious wrong that 
is meditated, the existence of the wrong itself is made an argu- 
ment for meeting it Avith concessions, and thus sustaining it. 
Instead of using the means the institutions have provided for 
putting down all such unjust and illegal combinations, the 
combinations arc a sufficient reason of themselves why the 
laws should be^ altered, and wrong be done to a few, in order 
that many may be propitiated, and their votes secured." 

"This is reasoning that can be used only where real griev- 
ances exist. But there are no real grievances in the case of the 
tenants. They may mystify weak heads in the instance of the 
manor leases, with their quarter-sales, fat hens, loads of wood 
and days' works ; but my leases are all on three lives, with rent 
payable in money, and with none of the conditions that are 
called feudal, though no more feudal than any other bargain to 
pay articles in kind. One might just as well call a bargain 
made by a butcher to deliver pork for a series of years, feudal. 
However, feudal or not, my leases, and those of most other 
landlords, are running on lives ; and yet, by what T can learn, 
the discontent is general ; and the men who have solemnly bar- 
gained to give up their farms at the expiration of the lives arc 
just as warm for the ' down-rent' and titles in fee, as the manor 
tenants themselves ! They say that the obligations given for 
actual purchases are beginning to be discredited." 

"You are quite right; and there is one of the frauds prac- 
tised on the world at large. In the public documents, only the 
manor leases, with their pretended feudal covenants and their 
perpetuity, arc kept in view, while the combination goes to all 
leases, or nearly all, and certainly to all sorts of leases, whore 
the estates are of sufficient extent to allow of the tenants to 
make head against the landlords. I dare say there arc hundreds 
of tenants, even on the property of the Rensselaers, who are 
honest enough to be willing to comply with their contracts if 
the conspirators would let them ; but the rapacious spirit is 
abroad among the occupants of other lands, as well as among 
the occupants of theirs, and the government considers its exist- 



128 THE REDSKINS. 

eiice a proof that concessions should be made. Tlic discontent 
ed must be appeased, right or not !" 

*' Did Seneca say any thing on tlie subject of his own in 
terests ?" 

"He did; not so much in conversation with me, as in the 
discourse he held Avith ' Lecturer Holmes.' I listened atten- 
tively, happening to be familiar, through tradition and through 
personal knowledge, with all the leading facts of the case. As 
you will soon be called on to act in that matter for yourself, 1 
may as well relate them to you. They will serve, also, as 
guides to the moral merits of the occupation of half the fanns 
on your estate. These are things, moreover, you would never 
know by public statements, since all the good bargains are 
smothered in silence, while those that may possibly have been 
a little unfavorable to the tenant are proclaimed far and near. 
It is quite possible that, among the many thousands of leased 
farms that are to be found in the state, some bad bargains may 
have been made by the tenants ; but what sort of a government 
is that which should undertake to redress evils of this nature ? 
If either of the Eensselaers, or you yourself, were to venture 
to send a memorial to the legislature setting forth the griev- 
ances you labor under in connection with this very ' mill-lot' — 
and serious losses do they bring to you, let me tell you, though 
grievances, in the proper sense of the term, they are not — you 
and your memorial Avould be met with a general and merited 
shout of ridicule and derision. One man has no rights, as op- 
posed to a dozen." 

" So much difference is there between * de la Rochefoucauld 
et de la Rochefoucauld.^ " 

"All the difference in the world; but let me give you the 
facts, for they will serve as a rule by which to judge of many 
others. In the first place, my great-grandfather Mordaunt, the 
* patentee,' as he was called, first let the mill-lot to the gi'and- 
father of this Seneca, the tenant then being quite a young man. 
In order to obtain settlers, in that early dfiy, it was necessary to 
give them great advantages, for there was vastly more land than 



TUB REDSKINS. 129 

there were people to work it. Tlic first lease, therefore, was 
granted on highly advantageous terms to that Jason Newcome, 
whom I can just remember. He had two characters ; the one, 
and the true, which set him down as a covetous, envious, nar- 
row-minded provincial, who was full of cant and roguery. 
Some traditions exist among us of his having been detected in 
stealing timber, and in various other frauds. In public he is 
one of those virtuous and hard-working pioneers who have 
transmitted to their descendants all their claims, those that arc 
supposed to be moral, as well as those that are known to be 
legal. This flummery may do for elderly ladies, who aflect 
snuft' and bohea, and for some men who have minds of the 
same calibre, but they are not circumstances to influence such 
legislators and executives as are fit to be legislators and execu- 
tives. Not a great while before my father's marriage, the said 
Jason still living and in possession, the lease expired, and a 
new one was granted for three lives, or twenty-one years cer- 
tain, of which one of the lives is still running. That lease was 
granted, on terms highly favorable to the tenant, sixty years 
since, old Newcome, luckily for himself and his posterity, 
having named this long-lived son as one of his three lives. 
Now Seneky, God bless him ! is known to lease a few of the 
lots that have fallen to his share of the property for more money 
than is required to meet all your rent on the whole. Such, in 
effect, has been the fact with that mill-lot for the last thirty 
years, or even longer ; and the circumstance of the great length 
of time so excellent a bargain has existed, is used as an argu- 
ment why the Newcomes ought to have a deed of the property 
for a nominal price ; or, indeed, for no pf ice at all, if the tenants 
could have their wishes." 

" I am afraid there is nothing unnatural in thus perverting 
principles ; half mankind appear to me really to get a great 
many of their notions desszis dessous.''^ 

"Half is a small proportion; as you will find, my boy, when 
you grow older. But was it not an impudent proposal of Seneca, 
when he wished yon and me to join the corps of ' Injius?' " 



130 THE REDSKINS. 

" What answer (lid you make? Though I suppose it would 
hardly do for us to go disguised and armed, now that the law 
makes it a felony, even "while our motive, at the bottom, might 
be to aid the law." 

"Catch me at that act of folly! Why, Hugh, could they 
prove such a crime on either of us, or any one connected with 
an old landed family, Ave should be the certain victims. No 
governor would dare pardon us. No, no ; clemency is a word 
reserved for the obvious and confirmed rogues." 

"We might get a little favor on the score of belonging to i\ 
very powerful body of offendei-s." 

"Tme; I forgot that circumstance. The more numerous the 
crimes and the criminals, the greater the probability of impuni- 
ty; and this, too, not on the general principle that power can- 
not be resisted, but on the particular principle that a thousand 
or two votes arc of vast importance, where three thousand can 
turn an election. God only knows where this thing is to end!" 

We now approached one of the humbler taverns of the place, 
where it was necessary for those of our apparent pretensions to 
seek lodgings, and the discourse was dropped. It Avas several 
Aveeks too early in the season for the springs to be frequented, 
and Ave found only a few of those in the place Avho drank the 
Avaters because they really required them. My uncle had been 
an old stager at Saratoga — a beau of the " purest water," as he 
laughingly described himself — and he Avas enabled to explain 
all that it Avas necessary for me to knoAV. An American Avater- 
ing-place, however, is so very much inferior to most of those in 
Europe, as to furnish very little, in their best moments, beyond 
the human beings they .contain, to attract the attention of the 
traveller. 

In the course of the afternoon we availed ourselves of the 
opportunity of a return vehicle to go as far as Sandy Hill, where 
we passed the night. The next morning, bright and early, Ave 
got into a hired Avagon and drove across the countiy until near 
night, when we paid for our passage, sent the vehicle back, 
and sought a tavern. At this house, where Ave passed the night, 



THE UED SKINS. 131 

we heard a good deal of the " Injins" having made their ap- 
pearance on the Littlepage lands, and many conjectures as to 
the probable result. We were in a township, or rather on a 
property that was called Mooseridge, and which had once 
belonged to us, but which, having been sold, and in a great 
measure paid for by the occupants, no one thought of impairing 
the force of the covenants under which the parties held. The 
most trivial observer Avill soon discover that it is only when 
something is to be gained that the aggrieved citizen wishes to 
disturb a covenant. Now, I never heard any one say a syllable 
against either of the covenants of his lease under which he held 
his farm, let him be ever so loud against those which would 
shortly compel him to give it up ! Had I complained of the 
fact — and such facts abounded — that my predecessors had in- 
cautiously let farms at such low prices that the lessees had been 
enabled to pay the rents for half a century by subletting small 
portions of them, as my uncle Ro had intimated, T should be 
pointed at as a fool. "Stick to your bond" would have been 
the cry, and "Shylock" would have 'been forgotten. I dp not 
say that there is not a vast difference between the means of 
acquiring intelligence, the cultivation, the manners, the social 
conditions, and, in some senses, the social obligations of an 
affluent landlord and a really hard-working, honest, Avell-intcn- 
tioned husbandman, his tenant — differences that should dispose 
the liberal and cultivated gentleman to bear in mind the advan- 
tages he has perhaps inherited, and not acquired by his own 
means, in such a way as to render him, in a certain degree, the 
repository of the interests of those who hold him ; but, while 1 
admit all this, and say that the community which does not 
possess such a class of men is to be pitied, as it loses one of the 
most certain means of liberalizing and enlarging its notions, and 
of improving its civilization, I am far from thinking that the 
men of this class are to have their real superiority of position, 
with its consequences, thrown into their faces only when they 
arc expected to give, while they are grudgingly denied it on all 
other occasions! There is nothing so likely to advance the 



132 THE REDSKINS. 

habits, opinions, and true interests of a rural population, as to 
have them all directed by the intelligence and combined inter- 
ests that ought to mark the connection between landlord and 
tenant. It may do for one class of political economists to 
prate about a state of things which supposes every husband- 
man a freeholder, and rich enough to maintain his level among 
the other freeholders of the state. But we all know that as 
many minute gradations in means must and do exist in a com- 
munity, as there exist gradations in characters. A majority 
soon will, in the nature of things, be below the level of the free- 
holder, and by destroying the system of having landlords and 
tenants, two great evils are created — the one preventing men of 
large fortunes from investing in lands, as no man will place his 
money where it will be insecure or profitless, thereby cutting 
off real estate generally from the benefits that might be and 
would be conferred by their capital, as well as cutting it off 
from the benefits of the increased price which arise from having 
such buyers in the market ; and the other is, to prevent any 
man from being a husbandman who has not the money neces- 
sary to purchase a farm. But they who want farms noio, and 
they who will want votes next November, do not look quite so 
far ahead as that, Avhile shouting "equal rights," they are, in 
fact, for preventing the poor husbandman from being any thing 
but a day-laborer. 

We obtained tolerably decent lodging at our inn, though the 
profoundest patriot America possesses, if he know any thing of 
other countries, or of the best materials of his own, cannot say 
much in favor of the sleeping arrangements of an ordinary coun- 
try inn. The same money and the same trouble would render 
that which is now the very beaic ideal of discomfort, at least 
tolerable, and in many instances good. But who is to produce 
this reform ? According to the opinions circulated among us, 
the humblest hamlet we have has already attained the highest 
point of civilization ; and as for the people, without distinction 
of classes, it is universally admitted that they are the best edu- 
cated, the acutest, and the most intelligent in Christendom ; — 



T II E n E D S K I N S . 133 

no, I must correct myself; they are all this, except when they 
are in the act of leasing lands, and then the innocent and illiter- 
ate husbandmen are the victims of the arts of designing land- 
lords, the wretches!* 

We passed an hour on the piazza, after eating our supper, 
and there being a collection of men assembled there, inhabitants 
of the hamlet, we had an opportunity to get into comniunica- 
tion with them. ^ly uncle sold a watch, and I played on the 
hurdy-gurdy, by way of making myself popular. After this 
beginning, the discourse turned on the engrossing subject of the 
day, anti-rentism. The principal speaker was a young man of 
about six-and-twenty, of a sort of shabby-genteel air and appear- 
ance, whom I soon discovered to be the attorney of the neigh- 
borhood. His name Avas Hubbard, while that of the other 
principal speaker was Hall. The last was a mechanic, as I as- 
certained, and was a plain-looking working-man of middle age. 
Each of these persons seated himself on a common " kitchen 
chair," leaning back against the side of the house, and, of 
course, resting on the two hind-legs of the rickety support, 
while he placed his own feet on the rounds in front. The atti- 
tudes were neither graceful nor picturesque, but they were so 
entire] V common as to excite no surprise. x\s for HaH, he ap- 

* Mr. Hugh Littlepagie writes a little sharply, but there is truth in all he says, at 
the bottom. His tone is probably produced by the fact that there is so serions an at- 
tempt to deprive him of his old paternal estate, an attempt which is receiving support 
in high quarters. In addition to this provocation, the Littlepages, as the manuscri|it 
shows farther on, are traduced, as one means of effecting the objects of the anti-rent- 
ers; no man, in any community in which it is necessary to work on public sentiment 
in order to accomplish such a purpose, ever being wronged without being calumniated. 
As respects the inns, truth compels me, as an old traveller, to say that Mr. Littlepage 
has much reason for what he says. I have met with a better bed in the lowest French 
tiivcrn I ever was compelled to use, and in one instance I slept in an inn frequented 
by carters, than in the best purely country inn in America. In the way of neatness, 
however, more is usually to be found in our New York village taverns than in tho 
public hotels of Paris itself. As for the hit touching tho intelligence of tho people, it 
i.s merited; for I have myself heard subtle distinctions drawn to show that the "peo- 
ple" of a former generation were not as knowing as the "people" of this, and imput- 
ing the covenants of the older leases to that circumstance, instead of imputing them 
to their true cause, the opinions and practices of the times. Half a century's cxpe» 
ence would induce mo to say that the " people" were never particularly dull in mak- 
ing a bargain. — Editor. 



134 TII E K E D S K I N S . 

pcared perfectly contented with his situation, after fidgeting a 
little to get the two supporting legs of his chair just where he 
wanted them; but Hubbard's eye was restless, uneasy, and even 
menacing, for more than a minute. He drew a knife from his 
pocket — a small, neat penknife only, it is true — gazed a little 
wildly about him, and just as I thought he intended to abandon 
his nicely poised chair, and to make an assault on one of the pil- 
lars that upheld the roof of the piazza, the innkeeper advanced 
holding in his hand several narrow slips of pine board, one 
of which he offered at once to 'Squire Hubbard. This relieved 
the attorney, Avho took the wood, and was soon deeply plunged 
in, to me, the unknown delights of whittling. I cannot explain 
the mysterious pleasure that so many find in whittling, though 
the prevalence of the custom is so well known. But I cannot 
explain the pleasure so many find in chewing tobacco, or in 
smoking. The precaution of the landlord was far from being 
unnecessary, and appeared to be taken in good part by all to 
whom he offered "whittling-pieces," some six or eight in the 
whole. The state of the piazza, indeed, proved that the pre- 
caution was absolutely indispensable, if he did not wish to see 
the house come tumbling down about his head. In order that 
those who have never seen such things may understand their 
use, I will go a little out of the way to explain. 

The inn was of wood, a hemlock frame with a "siding" of 
clap-boards. In this there was nothing remarkable, many coun- 
tries of Europe, even, still building principally of wood. Houses 
of lath and plaster were quite common, until within a few years, 
even in large towns. . I remember to have seen some of these 
constructions, Avhile in London, in close connection with the 
justly celebrated Westminster Hall; and of such materials is 
the much-talked-of miniature castle of Horace Walpole, at Straw- 
berry Ilill. But the inn of Mooseridge had some pretensions 
to architecture, besides being three or four times larger than 
any other house in the place. A piazza it enjoyed, of course ; 
it must be a pitiful village inn that does not: and building, 
accessories and all, rejoiced in several coats of a spurious white 



THE HEU SKINS. 136 

li'ad. Tlic ct)lutnns of this piazza, as well as the clapboards 
of tlie house itself, however, exhibited the proofs of the danger 
of abandoning your true whittler to his own instincts. Spread- 
eagles, five-points, American flags, huzzahs for Polk ! the initials 
of names, and names at full length, with various other similar 
conceits, records, and ebullitions of patriotic or party-otic feel- 
ings, were scattered up and down with an affluence that said 
volumes in favor of the mint in which they had been coined. 
But the most remarkable memorial of the industry of the guests 
was to be found on one of the columns; and it was one at a 
corner, too, and consequently of double importance to the 
superstructure — unless, indeed, the house were built on that 
Avell-known principle of American architecture of the last cen- 
tury, which made the architrave uphold the pillar, instead of 
the pillar the architrave. The column in question was of white 
pine, as usual — though latterly, in brick edifices, bricks and 
stucco are much resorted to — and, at a convenient height for 
the whittlers, it was literally cut two-thirds in two. The gash 
was very neatly made — that much must be said for it — indicat- 
ing skill and attention ; and the surfaces of the wound were 
smoothed in a manner to prove that appearances were not 
neglected. 

" Vat do das ?" I asked of the landlord, pointing to this gaj)- 
ing wound in the main column of his piazza. 

"That ! Oh! That's only the Avhittlers," answered the host, 
with a good-natured smile. 

Assuredly the Americans are the best-natured people on 
earth ! Here was a man whose house was nearly tumbling 
down about his ears — always bating the principle in architec- 
ture just named — and he could smile as Nero may be supposed 
to have done when fiddling over the conflagration of Rome. 

"But vhy might de vhittler vhittle doAvn your house?" 

" Oh ! this is a free country, you know, and folks do pretty 
much as they like in it," returned the still smiling host. "I 
let 'em cut away as long as I dared, but it was high time to 
get out ' whittling-pieces' I believe you must own. It's best 



136 THE REDSKINS. 

always to keep a ruff (roof) over a man's head, to be ready 
for bad weather. A week longer would have had the column 
in two." 

"Veil, I dmks I might not bear dat ! Vhat ist mein house 
ist mein house, ant dey shall not so moch vittles." 

"By letting 'em so much vittles there, they so much vittles 
in the kitchen ; so you see there is policy in having your under- 
pinnin' knocked away sometimes, if it's done by the right sort 
of folks." 

"You're a stranger in these parts, friend?" obseiTcd Hub- 
bard, complacently, for by this time his " whittling-piece" was 
reduced to a shape, and he could go on reducing it, according 
to some law of the art of whittling with which I am not ac- 
quainted. "We are not so particular in such mutters as in 
some of your countries in the old world." 

" Ja — das I can see. But does not woot ant column cost 
money in America, someding ?" 

"To be sure it does. There is not a man in the country who 
would imdertake to replace that pillar with a new one, paint and 
all, for less than ten dollars." 

This was an opening for a discussion on the probable cost of 
putting a new pillar into the place of the one that was injured. 
Opinions ditfered, and quite a dozen spoke on the subject; 
some placing the expense as high as fifteen dollars, and others 
bringing it down as low as five. I was struck with the quiet 
and self-possession with which each man delivered his opinion, 
as well as Avith the language used. The accent was uniformly 
provincial, that of Hubbard included, having a strong and un- 
pleasant taint of the dialect of New England in it ; and some 
of the expressions savored a little of the stilts of the newspa- 
pers ; but, on the whole, the language was sufficiently accurate 
and surprisingly good, considering the class in life of the 
speakers. The conjectures, too, manifested great shrewdness 
and familiarity with practical things, as well as, in a few in- 
stances, some reading. Hall, however, actually surprised me. 
He spoke with a precision and knowledge of mechanics that 



THE REDSKINS. 



137 



would have done credit to a scliolar, and with a simplicity tliat 
added to the influence of what he said. Some casual remark 
induced me to put in — " Veil, I might s'pose an. Injiu voult cut 
so das column, but I might not s'pose a vhite man could." 
This opinion gave the discourse a direction toward anti-rentism, 
and in a fcAV minutes it caught all the attention of my uncle Ro 
and myself. 

"This business is going ahead after all!" observed Hubbard, 
evasively, after others had had their say. 

" More's the pity," put in Hall. "It might have been put 
an end to in a month, at any time, and ought to be put an end 
to in a civilized land." 

" You will own, neighbor Hall, notwithstanding, it would be 
a great improvement in the condition of the tenants all over the 
state, could they change their tenures into freeholds." 

"No doubt 'twould; and so it would be a great improve- 
ment in the condition of my journeyman in my shop if he could 
get to be the boss. But that is not the question here, the ques- 
tion is, what right has the state to say any man shall sell his 
property unless he Avishes to sell it ? A pretty sort of liberty 
we should have if we all held our houses and gardens under such 
laws as that supposes !" 

" But do we not all hold our houses and gardens, and farms, 
too, by some such law ?" rejoined the attorney, who evidently 
respected his antagonist, and advanced his own opinions cauti- 
ously. If the public wants land to use, it can take it by paying 
for it." 

"Yes, to use ; but use is every thing. I've read that old 
report of the committee of the house, and don't subscribe to 
its doctrines at all. Public 'policy,' in that sense, doesn't at 
all mean public *usc.' If land is wanted for a road, or a fort, 
or a canal, it must be taken, under a law, by appraisement, or 
the thing could not be had at all ; but to pretend, because one 
side to a contract wishes to alter it, that the state has a right to 
interfere, on the ground that the discontented can be bought 
off in this way easier and cheaper than they can be made to 



138 T II E R K D S K I X S . 

obey the laws, is but a poor way of supjiorting the right. The 
same principle, carried out, might prove it would be easier to 
buy off pickpockets by compromising thau to punish them. 
Or it would be easy to get round all sorts of contracts in this 
way." 

" But all governments use this power when it becomes neces- 
sary, neighbor Hall." 

" That word neccnsanj covers a great deal of ground, 'Squire 
Hubbard. The most that can be made of the necessity here is 
to say it is cheaper, and may help along parties to their objects 
better. No man doubts that the state of New York can put 
down these anti-renters ; and, I trust, will put them down, so 
far as force is concerned. There is, then, no other necessity in 
the case, to begin with, than the necessity which demagogues 
always feel, of getting as many votes as they can," 

"After all, neighbor Hall, these votes are pretty powerful 
weapons in a popular government." 

" I'll not deny that; and now they talk of a convention to 
alter the constitution, it is a favorable moment to teach such 
managers they shall not abuse the right of suffrage in this way." 

" How is it to be prevented ? You are a universal suffrage 
man, I know ?" 

"Yes, I'm for universal suffrage among honest folks; but 
do not wish to have my rulers chosen by them that are never 
satisfied without having their hands in their neighbors' pockets. 
Let 'em put a clause into the constitution providing that no 
town, or village, or county, shall hold a poll within a given time 
after the execution of process bas been openly resisted in it. 
That would take the conceit out of all such law-breakers, in very 
short order." 

It was plain that this idea struck the listeners, and several 
even avowed their approbation of the scheme aloud. Hubbard 
received it as a new thought, but was more reluctant to admit 
its practicability. As might be expected from a lawyer accus- 
tomed to practise in a small way, his objections savored more 
of narrow views than of the notions of a statesman. 



T II E UE D S KI N S. 139 

" IIow would you determine the extent of tlic district to be 
disfrancliiscd ?" he asked. 

" Take the legal limits as they stand. If process be resisted 
openly by a combination strong enough to look down the 
agents of the law in a town, disfranchise that town for a given 
period ; if in more than one town, disfranchise the offending 
towns; if a county, disfranchise the whole county." 

"But, in that way you would punish the innocent with the 
guilty." 

"It ^ould be for the good of all ; besides, you punish the 
innocent for the guilty, or ivilh the guilty rather, in a thousand 
ways. You and I are taxed to keep drunkards from starving, 
because it is better to do that than to offend humanity by see- 
ing men die of hunger, or tempting them to steal. When you 
declare martial law you punish the innocent Avith the guilty, in 
one sense ; and so you do in a hundred cases. All we have to 
ask is, if it be not wiser and better to disarm demagogues, and 
those disturbers of the public peace who wish to prevent their 
right of suffrage to so wicked an end, by so simple a process, 
than to suffer them to effect their purposes by the most flagrant 
abuse of their political privileges ?" 

"How would you determine ivhcn a town should lose the 
right of voting ?" 

" By evidence given in open court. The judges would be 
the proper authority to decide in such a case ; and they would 
decide, beyond all question, nineteen times in twenty, right. 
It is the interest of every man who is desirous of exercising the 
suffrage on right principles, to give him some such protection 
against them that wish to exercise the suffrage on wrong. A 
peace-officer can call on the jyosse cnmitatus or on the people 
to aid him ; if enough appear to put down the rebels, well and 
good ; but if enough do not appear, let it be taken as proof that 
the district is not worthy of giving the votes of freemen. They 
who abuse such a liberty as man enjoys in this country are the 
least entitled to our sympathies. As for the mode, that could 
easily be determined, as soon as you settle the principle." 



140 THE REDSKINS. 

The discourse went on for an hour, neighbor Hall giving his 
opinions still more at large. I listened equally Avith pleasure 
and surprise. "These, then, after all," I said to myself, "are 
the real bone and sinew of the country. There are tens of 
thousands of this sort of men in the state, and why sLould they 
be domineered over, and made to submit to a legislation and to 
practices that are so often without principle, by the agents 
of the worst part of the community ? Will the honest for- 
ever be so passive, while the corrupt and dishonest continue 
so active?" On my mentioning these notions to my uncle, 
he answered: 

" Yes ; it ever has been so, and, I fear, ever will be so. There 
is the curse of this country," pointing to a table covered with 
newspapers, the invariable companion of an American inn of 
any size. " So long as men believe what they find there, they 
can be nothing but dupes or knaves." 

"But there is good in newspapers." 

"That adds to the curse. If they were nothing but lies, the 
world would soon reject them ; but how few are able to sepa- 
rate the true from the false ! Now, how few of these pages 
speak the truth about this very anti-rentism ! Occasionally an 
honest man in the corps does come out ; but where one does 
this, ten affect to think what they do not believe, in order to 
secure votes ; — votes, votes, votes. In that simple word lies 
all the mystery of the matter." 

" Jefferson said, if he were to choose between a government 
without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, he 
would take the last." 

" Ay, Jefferson did not mean newspapers as they are now. I 
am old enough to see the change that has taken place. In his 
day, three or four fairly convicted lies would damn any editor ; 
now, there are men that stand up under a thousand. I'll tell 
you what, Hugh, this country is jogging on under two of the 
most antagonist systems possible — Christianity and the news- 
papers. The first is daily hammering into every man that he 
is a miserable, frail, good-for-nothing being, while the last is 



THE REDSKINS. 141 

eternally proclaiming the perfection of the people and the vir- 
tues of self-government." 

"Perhaps too much stress ought not to be laid on either." 
"The first is certainly true, under limitations that we all un- 
derstand ; but as to the last, I will own I want more evidence 
than a newspaper eulogy to believe it." 

After all, my uncle Ro is sometimes mistaken ; though can- 
dor compels me to acknowledge that he is very often right. 



142 



THE REDSKINS. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

" I see tbee still ; 
Kfemembrance, faithful to her tiust, 
Calls thee in beauty from the dust; 
Thou comest in the morning light, 
Thou'rt with me through the gloomy ni^'Iit ; 
In dreams I meet thee as of old : 
Then thy soft arms my neck enfold, 
And thy sweet voice is in my ear : 
In every sense to memory dear 
I see thee still." 

Speague. 

It was just ten in the morning of the succeeding day when 
my uncle Ro and myself came in sight of the old house at the 
Nest. I call it old, for a dwelling that has stood more than 
half a century acquires a touch of the venerable, in a country 
like America. To me it was truly old, the building having 
stood there, Avhere I then saw it, for a period more than twice 
as long as that of my own existence, and was associated with 
all my early ideas. From childhood I had regarded that place 
as my future home, as it had been the home of my parents and 
grand-parents, and, in one sense, of those who had gone before 
them for two generations more. The whole of the land in sight 
— the rich bottoms, then waving with grass — the side-hills, the 
woods, the distant mountains — the orchards, dwellings, barns, 
and all the other accessories of rural life that appertained to the 
soil, were mine, and had thus become without a single act of 
injustice to any human being, so far as I knew and believed. 
Even the red man had been fairly bought off by Herman Mor- 
daunt, the patentee, and so Susquesus, the Redskin of Ravens- 
nest, as our old Onondago was often called, had ever admitted 
the fact to be. It was natural that I should love an estate thus 
inherited and thus situated. No civilized man, no man, in- 



THE HE D SKIN S. 143 

DEED, SAVAGE OR NOT, HAD EVER BEEN THE OWNER OF THOSE 
BROAD ACRES, BUT THOSE WHO WERE OF MY OWN BLOOD. This is 

what few besides Americans can say; and when it can be said 
truly, in parts of the country where the arts of life have spread, 
and amid the blessings of civilization, it becomes the foundation 
of a sentiment so profound, that I do not wonder those adven- 
turers-errant who are flying about the face of the country, 
thrusting their hands into every man's mess, have not been able 
to find it among their other superficial discoveries. Nothing 
can be less like the ordinary cravings of avarice than the feeling 
that is thus engendered ; and I am certain that the general ten- 
dency of such an influence is to elevate the feelings of him who 
experiences it. 

And there were men among us, high in political station — 
high as such men ever can get, for the consequence of having 
such men in power is to draw down station itself nearer to their 
own natural level — but men in power had actually laid down 
propositions in political economy which, if carried out, would 
cause me to sell all that estate, reserving, perhaps, a single farm 
for my own use, and reinvest the money in such a way as that 
the interest I obtained might equal my present income ! It is 
true, this theory was not directly applied to me, as my forms 
were to fall in by the covenants of their leases, but it had been 
directly applied to Stephen and William Van Rensselaer, and, 
by implication, to others ; and my turn might come next. What 
business had the Rensselaers, or the Livingstons, or the Hunters, 
or the Littlepages, or the Morgans, or the Verplancks, or the 
Wadsworths, or five hundred others similarly placed, to entertain 
*' sentiments" that interfered with " business," or that interfered 
with the wishes of any straggling Yankee who had found his 
way out of New England, and wanted a particular farm on his 
own terms ? It is aristocratic to put sentiment in opposition 
to trade ; and trade itself is not to be trade any longer 

THAN ALL THE PROFIT IS TO BE FOUND ON THE SIDE OF NUMBERS. 

Even the principles of holy trade arc to be governed by majori- 
ties ! 



144 THE REDSKINS. 

Even my uncle Ro, who never owned a foot of the property, 
could not look at it without emotion. He too had been born 
there — had passed his childhood there — and loved the spot 
without a particle of the grovelling feeling of avarice. He took 
pleasure in remembering that our race had been the only owners 
of the soil on which he stood, and had that very justifiable pride 
which belongs to enduring respectability and social station. 

" Well, Hugh," he cried, after both of us had stood gazing 
at the gray walls of the good and substantial, but certainly not 
very beautiful dwelling, "here we are, and we now may deter- 
mine on what is next to be done. Shall we march down to 
the village, which is four miles distant, you will remember, and 
get our breakfasts there ? — shall we try one of your tenants ? — 
or shall we plunge at once in medias res, and ask hospitality of 
my mother and your sister ?" 

The last might excite suspicion, I fear, sir. Tar and feathers 
would be our mildest fate did we fall into the hands of the 
Injins." 

"Injins ! Why not go at once to the wigwam of Susquesus, 
and get out of him and Yop the history of the state of things. 
I heard them speaking of the Onondago at our tavern last night, 
and while they said he was generally thought to be much more 
than a hundred, that he was still like a man of eighty. That 
Indian is full of observation, and may let us into some of the 
secrets of his brethren." 

"They can at least give us the news from the family; and 
though it might seem in the course of things for peddlers to 
visit the Nest house, it will be just as much so for them to halt 
at the wigwam." 

This consideration decided the matter, and away we went to- 
ward the ravine or glen, on the side of which stood the pruni- 
tive-looking hut that went by the name of the " wigwam." 
The house was a small cabin of logs, neat and warm, or cool, 
as the season demanded. As it was kept up, and was white- 
washed, and occasionally furnished anew by the landlord— 
the odious creature ! he who paid for so many similar things in 



THE KED SKINS. 145 

llie ueighborliood — it was never unfit to be seen, though never 
of a very alluring, cottage-like character. There was a garden, 
and it had been properly made that very season, the negro pick- 
ing and pecking about it, during the summer, in a way to coax 
the vegetables and fruits on a little, though I well knew that 
the regular weedings came from an assistant at the Nest, who 
was ordered to give it an eye and an occasional half-day. On 
one side of the hut there was a hog-pen and a small stable for a 
cow ; but on the other the trees of the virgin forest, which had 
never been disturbed in that glen, overshadowed the roof. This 
somewhat poetical arrangement was actually the consequence 
of a compromise between the tenants of the cabin, the negro 
insisting on the accessories of his rude civilization, while the 
Indian required the shades of the woods to reconcile liim to 
his position. Here had these two singularly associated beings. 
— the one deriving his descent from the debased races of Africa, 
and the other from the fierce but lofty-minded aboriginal inhab- 
itant of this continent — dwelt nearly for the whole period of an 
ordinary human life. The cabin itself began to look really 
ancient, Avhile those who dwelt in it had little altered within 
the memory of man ! Such instances of longevity, whatever 
theorists may say on the subject, are not unfrequeut among 
cither the blacks or the "natives," though probably less so 
among the last than among the first, and still less so among the 
first of the northern than of the southern sections of the repub- 
lic. It is common to say that the great age so often attributed 
to the people of these two races is owing to ignorance of the 
periods of their births, and that they do not live longer than 
the whites. This may be true, in the main, for a white man is 
known to have died at no great distance from Ravensnest, with- 
in the last five-and-twenty years who numbered more than his 
6ix-scoro of years; but aged negroes and aged Indians are 
nevertheless so common, when the smalluess of their whole 
numbers is remembered, as to render the fact apparent to most 
of those who have seen much of their respective people. 

There was uo highway in the vicinity of the wigwam, for so 
7 



146 THE KED SKINS. 

the cabin was generally called, tliougli wigwam, in the strict 
meaning of tlie word, it was not. As the little building stood 
in the grounds of the Nest house, which contain two hundred 
acres, a bit of virgin forest included, and exclusively of the 
fields that belonged to the adjacent farm, it was approached 
only by foot-paths, of which several led to and from it, and by 
one narrow, winding carriage-road, which, in passing for miles 
through the grounds, had been led near the hut, in order to 
enable my grandmother and sister, and, I dare say, my dear 
departed mother, while she lived, to make their calls in their 
frequent airings. By this sweeping road we approached the 
cabin. 

" There are the two old fellows, sunning themselves this fine 
day !" exclaimed my uncle, with something like tremor in his 
voice, as we drew near enough to the hut to distinguish objects, 
" Hugh, I never see these men without a feeling of awe, as well 
as of affection. They were the fiiends, and one was the slave 
of my grandfather ; and as long as I can remember, have they 
been aged men ! They seem to be set up here as monuments 
of the past, to connect the generations that are gone with those 
that are to come." 

" If so, sir, they Avill soon be all there is of their sort. It 
really seems to me that, if things continue much longer in their 
present direction, men will begin to grow jealous and envious 
of histoiy itself, because its actors have left descendants to par- 
ticipate in any little credit they may have gained." 

"Beyond all contradiction, boy, there is a strange perversion 
of the old and natural sentiments on this head among us. But 
you must bear in mind the fact, that of the two millions and a 
half the state contains, not half a million, probably, possess 
any of the true York blood, and can consequently feel any of 
the sentiments connected with the birth-place and the older 
traditions of the very society in which they live. A great deal 
must be attributed to the facts of our condition ; though I 
admit those facts need not, and ought not to unsettle principles. 
But look at those two old follows ! There they arc, true to the 



THE REDSKINS 147 

feelings and habits of tlicir races, even after passing so long a 
time together in this hut. There squats Susquesus on a stono, 
idle and disdaining work, with his rifle leaning against the apple- 
tree ; wliile Jaaf — or Yop, as I believe it is better to call him — 
is pecking about in the garden, still a slave at his work, in fancy 
lit least." 

"And which is the happiest, sir — the industrious old man or 
the idler ?" 

" Probably each finds most happiness in indulging his own 
early habits. The Onondago never would work, however, and 
I have heard my father say, great was his happiness when he 
found he was to pass the remainder of his days in otium cum 
dignitate^ and without the necessity of making baskets." 

" Yop is looking at us ; had we not better go up at once and 
speak to them ?" 

"Yop may stare the most openly, but my life on it the Indian 
sees twice as much. His faculties are the best, to begin with ; 
and he is a man of extraordinary and characteristic observation. 
In his best days nothing ever escaped him. As you say, we 
will approach." 

My uncle and myself then consulted on the expediency of 
using broken English with these two old men, of which, at first, 
we saw no necessity; but when we remembered that others 
might join us, and that our communication with the two might 
be frequent for the next few days, we changed our minds, and 
determined rigidly to observe our incognitos. 

As we came up to the door of the hut, Jaaf slowly left his 
little garden and joined the Indian, who remained immovable 
and unmoved on the stone which served him for a seat. We 
could see but little change in either during the five years of our 
absence, each being a perfect picture, in his way, of extreme 
but not decrepit old age in the men of his race. Of the two, 
the black- — if black he could now be called, his color being a 
muddy gray — was the most altered, though that seemed scarce- 
ly possible when I saw him last. As for the Trackless, or Sus- 
quesus, as he was commonly called, his temperance throughout 



148 inEREDSKlNS. 

a long life did liim good service, and Ms Lalf-naked limbs and 
skeleton-like body, for he wore tbe summer dress of bis people, 
appeared to be made of a leather long steeped in a tannin of 
the purest quality. His sinews, too, though much stiffened, 
seemed yet to be of whipcord, and his whole frame a species 
of indurated mummy that retained its vitality. The color of 
the skin was less red than formerly, and more closely approach- 
ed to that of the negi'o, as the latter now was, though percept- 
ibly different. 

" Sago — sago," cried my uncle, as we came quite near, see- 
incr no risk in usins: that familiar semi-Indian salutation.* 
" Sago, sago, dis charmin' mornin ; in my tongue, dat might 
be giitan tag^ 

" Sago," returned the Trackless, in his deep, guttural voice, 
while old Yop brought two lips together that resembled thick 
pieces of overdone beefsteak, fastened his red-encircled gummy 
eyes on each of us in turn, pouted once more, working his 
jaws as if proud of the excellent teeth they still held, and said 
nothing. As the slave of a Littlepage, he held peddlers as 
inferior beings ; for the ancient negroes of New York ever iden- 
tified themselves, more or less, with the families to which they 
belonged, and in which they so often were born. " Sago," re- 
peated the Indian, slowly, courteously, and with emphasis, after 
he had looked a moment longer at my uncle, as if he saw some- 
thing about him to command respect. 

" Dis ist charmin' day, frients," said uncle Eo, placing him- 
self coolly on a log of wood that had been hauled for the stove, 
and wiping his brow. *' Vat might you calls dis coon try ?" 

* The editor has often had occasion to explain the meaning of terms of this mituro. 
The colonists-caught a great many words from the Indians they first knew, and used 
thom to all other Indians, though not belonging to their language; and these other 
tribes using them as English, a sort of limited lingua franoa has grown up in iho 
country that every body understands. It is believed that "moccasin," "squaw," 
• pappoose," "sago," "tomahawk," " wigwam," «&c., &c., all belong to this class of 
words. There can be little doubl (hat the sobriquet of "Yankees'" is derived from 
"Yengees," the manner in which the tribes nearest lo Ne-w England pronounced the 
word " English." It is to this hour a provincialism of that part of the country lo prcr- 
nouiico this word " jF/ifz-lish" instead of "/7i(7-lish," its conventional sound. The 
change from '■'• Ei)g-\\s\\"' to "ye^-gcesc" is very trifling. — EDrroK. 



THE REDSKINS. 149 

** Dis here ?" answered Yop, not without a little contempt. 
" Dis is York colony ; where you come from to ask sich a 
question?" 

*' Charmany. Dat ist for off, but a goot coontry ; aut dis ist 
goot coontry, too." 

'■' Why you leab him, den, if he be good country, eh ?" 

" Vhy you leaf Africa, canst you dell me dat?" retorted un- 
cle Ro, somewhat coolly. 

" Nebber was dere," growled old Yop, bringing his blubber 
lips together somewhat in the manner the boar works his jaws 
when it is prudent to get out of his way. "I'm York-nigger 
bom, and nebber seen no Africa ; and nebber want to see him, 
nudder." 

It is scarcely necessaiy to say that Jaaf belonged to a school 
by which the term of "colored gentleman" was never used. 
The men of his time and stamp called themselves "niggers;" 
and ladies and gentlemen of that age took them at their word, 
and called them " niggers" too ; a term that no one of the race 
ever uses now, except in the way of reproach, and which, by 
one of the singular workings of our very wayward and common 
nature, he is more apt to use than any other, when reproach is 
intended. 

My uncle paused a moment to reflect before he continued a 
discourse that had not appeared to commence under very flat- 
tering auspices. 

" Who might lif in dat big stone house !" asked uncle 
Ro, as soon as he thought the negro had had time to cool a 
little. 

"Any body can see you no Yorker, by dat werry speech," 
answered Yop, not at all mollified by such a question. " Who 
short Id lib dere but Gin'ral Littlcpage !" 

"Veil, I dought he wast dead, long ago." 

"Wliat if he be? It is his house, and he lib in it; and olo 
young missus lib dere too." 

Now, there had been three generations of generals among the 
Littlepages, counting from father to son. First, there had been 



150 THE UEDSKINS. 

Brigadier-General Evans Littlepage, who held that rank in the 
militia, and died in service during the revolution. The next 
was Brigadier-General Cornelius Littlepage, who got his rank 
by brevet, at the close of the same war, in which he had ac- 
tually figured as a colonel of the New York line. Third, and 
last, was my own grandfather, Major-General Mordaunt Little- 
page : he had been a captain in his father's regiment at the 
close of the same struggle, got the brevet of major at its 
termination, and rose to be a major-general of the militia, the 
station he held for many years before he died. As soon as the 
privates had the power to elect their own officers, the position 
of a major-general in the militia ceased to be respectable, and 
few gentlemen could be induced to serve. As might have been 
foreseen, the militia itself fell into general contempt, where it 
now is, and where it will ever remain until a different class of 
officers shall be chosen. The people can do a great deal, no 
doubt, but they cannot make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear." 
As soon as officers from the old classes shall be appointed, the 
militia will come up ; for in no interest in life is it so material 
to have men of certain habits, and notions, and education, iu 
authority, as in those connected with the military ser\dce. A 
great many fine speeches may be made, and much patriotic 
eulogy expended on the intrinsic virtue and intelligence of the 
people, and divers projects entertained to make "citizen-sol- 
diers," as they are called ; but citizens never can be, and never 
will be turned into soldiers at all, good or bad, until proper 
oflScers are placed over them. To return to Yop — 

"Bray vhat might be der age of das laty dat you callet oil 
young missus ?" asked my uncle. 

" Gosh ! she nuttcn but gal — born some time just a'ter ole 
French war. Remember her well 'nough when she Miss Dus 
Malbone. Young masser Mordaunt take fancy to her, and 
make her he Avife." 

"Veil, I hopes you hafn't any objection to der match?" 

" Not I ; she clebbcr young lady den, and she werry clebbei 
young lady now." 



THE REDSKINS. 151 

And this of my venerable grandmotlier, who had fairly seen 
her fourscore years ! 

" Who miccht be der master of das bis: house now?" 

"Gin'ral Littlepagc, doesn't I tell ye! Masser Mordaunt's 
name, my young master, Sus, dere, only Injiu ; he nebber so 
lucky as hab a good master. Niggers gettin' scarce, dey tells 
me, nowadays, in dis world!" 

'* Injins, too, I dinks ; dere ist no more redskins might be 
blenty." 

The manner in which the Gnondago raised his figure, and 
the look he fastened on my uncle, were both fine and startling. 
As yet he had said nothing beyond the salutation ; but I could 
see he now intended to speak. 

" New tribe," he said, after regarding us for half a minute 
intently ; " what you call him — where he come from ?" 

" Ja, ja — das ist der anti-rent redskins. Haf you seen 'em, 
Trackless.?" 

'• Sartain ; come to see me — face in bag — behave like squaw; 
poor Injin — poor warrior!" 

"Yees, I believe dat ist true enough. I can't bear soch 
Injin ? — might not be soch Injin in the world. Vhat you call 
'em, eh ?" 

Susquesus shook his head slowly ; and with dignity. Then 
he gazed intently at my uncle; after which he fastened liis 
eyes in a similar manner on me. In this manner his looks 
turned from one to the other for some little time, Avhen he 
again dropped them to the earth, calmly and ui silence. I took 
out the hurdy-gurdy, and began to play a lively air — one that 
was very popular among the American blacks, and which, I am 
sorry to say, is getting to be not less so among the whites. No 
visible effect was produced on Susquesus, unless a slight shade 
of contempt was visible on his dark features. With Jaaf, 
however, it was very different. Old as he was, I could see a 
certain nervous twitching of the lower limbs, which indicated 
that the old fellow actually felt some disposition to dance. It 
Boon passed away, though his grim, hard, wrinkled, dusky-gray 



152 THE REDSKINS. 

countenance continued to gleam with a sort of dull pleasure l\)r 
some time. There was nothing surprising in this, the indift'er- 
cnce of the Indian to melody being almost as marked as the 
negro's sensitiveness to its power. 

It was not to be exj^ected that men so aged would be dis- 
posed to talk much. The Onondago had ever been a silent 
man : dignity and gravity of character uniting with prudence 
to render him so. But Jaaf was constitutionally garrulous, 
though length of days had necessarily much diminished the 
propensity. At that moment a fit of thoughtful and melancholy 
silence came over my uncle, too, and all four of us continued 
brooding on our own reflections for two or three minutes after I 
had ceased to play. Presently the even, smooth approach of 
carriage-wheels was heard, and a light summer vehicle that was 
an old acquaintance, came whirling round the stable, and drew 
up within ten feet of the spot where we Averc all seated. 

My heart was in my mouth at this unexpected interruption, 
and I could perceive that my uncle was scarcely less aflectcd. 
Amid the flowing and pretty drapeiy of summer shawls, and 
the other ornaments of the female toilet, were four youthful and 
sunny faces, and one venerable with years. In a word, my 
grandmother, my sister, and my uncle's two other wards, and 
Mary Warren, were in the carriage; yes, the pretty, gentle, 
timid, yet spirited and intelligent daughter of the rector was of 
the party, and seemingly quite at home and at her ease, as one 
among friends. She was the first to speak even, though it was 
in a low, quiet voice, addressed to my sister, and in words that 
appeared extorted by surprise. 

"There are the very two peddlers of whom I told you, 
ilartha," she said, " and now you may hear the flute well 
played." 

"I doubt if he can play better than Hugh," was my dear 
sister's answer. "But we'll have some of his music, if it be 
only to remind us of him who is so far away." 

"The music we can and will have, my child," cried my 
grandmother, cheerfully; "though that is not wanted to remind 



THE UK D S KINS. 1.53 

US of our absent boy. Good-morrow, Susquesus ; I hope this 
fine day agrees with you." 

" Sago," returned the Indian, making a dignified and even 
graceful forward gesture with one arm, though he did not 
rise. *' Weadder good — Great Spirit good, dat reason. How 
squaws do?" 

" We are all well, I thank you, Trackless. Good-morrow, 
Jaaf ; how do you do, this fine morning?" 

Yop, or Jaap, or Jaaf, rose tottering, made a low obeisance, 
and then answered in the semi-respectful, semi-familiar manner 
of an old, confidential family servant, as the last existed among 
our fathers : 

"T'ank 'ec, Miss Dus, wid all my heart," he answered. 
" Pretty well to-day ; but old Sus, he fail, and grow ol'cr and 
ol'er dcsp'ate fast !" 

Now, of the two, the Indian was much the finest relic of 
human powers, though he was less uneasy and more stationary 
than the black. But the propensity to see the mote in the eye 
of his friend, while he forgot the beam in his own, was a long- 
established and well-known weakness of Jaaf, and its present 
exhibition caused every body to smile. I Avas delighted Avith 
the beaming, laughing eyes of Mary Warren in particular, 
though she said nothing. 

" I cannot say I agree with you, Jaaf," returned my smiling 
grandmother. " The Trackless bears his years surprisingly ; 
and I think I have not seen him look better this many a day 
than he is looking this morning. We are none of us as young 
as wc were when we first became acquainted, Jaaf — Avhich is 
now near, if not quite, threescore of years ago." 

"You nuthin' but gal, nudder," growled the negro. "Ole 
Sus be raal ole fellow ; but Miss Dus and Masser Mordauut, 
dey get married only tudder day. Wh}' dat was a'ter the revy 
1 joshen !" 

"It Avas, indeed," replied the venerable Avoman, with a touch 
of melancholy in lier tones; "but the rcA'olution took place 
inauA-, many a long vear since !" 



154 THE KEDSKINS. 

" Well, noAv, I be surprise, Miss Dus ! How you call dat so 
long, when lie only be tudder day?" retorted the pertinacious 
negro, who began to grow crusty, and to speak in a short, 
spiteful way, as if displeased by hearing that to which he could 
not assent. " Masser Corny was little ole, p'r'aps, if he lib, but 
all de rest ob you nuttin' but children. Tell me one t'ing. Miss 
Dus, be it true dey's got a town at Satanstoe?" 

" An attempt was made, a few years since, to turn the 
whole country into towns, and, among other places, the Neck ; 
but I believe it will never be any thing more than a capital 
farm." 

" So besser. Dat good land, I tell you ! One acre down 
dere wort' more dan twenty acre up here." 

" My grandson would not be pleased to hear you say that, 
Jaaf." 

"Who your grandson. Miss Dus. Kemember you had little 
baby tudder day ; but baby can't hab baby." 

" Ah, Jaaf, my old friend, my babies have long since been 
men and women, and are drawing on to old age. One, and he 
was my firet-born, is gone before us to a better world, and his 
boy is now your young master. This young lady, that is seat- 
ed opposite to me, is the sister of that young master, and she 
would be grieved to think you had forgotten her." 

Jaaf labored under the difficulty so common to old age, he 
was forgetful of things of more recent date, while he remem- 
bered those which had occurred a century ago ! The memory 
is a tablet that partakes of the peculiarity of all our opinions 
and habits. In youth it is easily impressed, and the images 
then engraved on it are distinct, deep and lasting, while those 
that succeed become crowded, and take less root, from the cir- 
cumstance of finding the ground already occupied. In the 
present instance, the age was so great that the change was 
really startling, the old negro's recollections occasionally coming 
on the mind like a voice from the grave. As for the Indian, as 
I afterward ascertained, he was better preserved in all respects 
than the black ; his great temperance in youth, freedom from 



THE UED SKINS. 155 

labor, exercise in tlic open air, united to the comforts and 
abundance of semi-civilized habits, that had now lasted for near 
a century, contributed to preserve both mind and body. As I 
now looked at him, I remembered what I had heard in boyhood 
of his history. 

There had ever been a mystery about the life of the Onon- 
dago. If any one of our set had ever been acquainted with the 
facts, it was Andries Coejemans, a half-uncle of my dear grand- 
mother, a person who has been known among us by the sobri- 
quet of the Chainbearer. My grandmother had told me that 
" uncle Chainbearer," as we all called the old relative, did know 
all about Susquesus, in his time — the reason why he had left 
his tribe, and become a hunter, and warrior, and runner among 
the pale-faces — and that he had always said the particulars did 
his red friend great credit, but that he would reveal it no 
further. So great, however, was uncle Chainbearer's reputation 
for integrity, that such an opinion was sufficient to procure for 
the Onondago the fullest confidence of the Avhole connection, 
and the experience of fourscore years tmd ten had proved that 
this confidence was well placed. Some imputed the sort of 
exile in which the old man had so long lived to love ; others to 
war, and others, again, to the consequences of those fierce per- 
sonal feuds that are known to occur among men in the savage 
state. But all was just as much a mystery and matter of con- 
jecture, now Ave were drawing near to the middle of the nine- 
teenth century, as it had been Avhen our forefathers Avere reced- 
ing from the middle of the eighteenth ! To return to the negro. 

Although Jaaf had momentarily forgotten me, and quite for- 
gotten my parents, he remembered my sister, Avho was in the 
habit of seeing him so often. In what manner he connected 
her Avith the family, it is not easy to say ; but he knew her not 
only by sight, but by name, and, as one might say, by blood. 

"Yes, yes," cried the old felloAv, a little eagerly, ^ champing^ 
his thick lips together, somcAvhat as an alligator snaps his jaws, 
"yes, I knows Miss Patty, of course. Miss Patty is Avcrry 
ban'sonio, and groAvs han'somcr and han'somer cbbcry time I 



156 TIIEREDSKINS. 

sees her — yah, yah, yah!" The laugh of that old negro sounded 
startling and unnatural, yet there was something of the joyous 
in it, after all, like every negro's laugh. "Yah, yah, yah! Yes, 
Miss Patty won'erful han'some, and worry like Miss Dus. I 
s'pose, now. Miss Patty was born about 'e time dat Gin'ral 
Washington die." 

As this was a good deal more than doubling my sister's age, 
it . produced a common laugh among the light-hearted girls in 
the carriage. A gleam of intelligence that almost amounted to 
a smile also shot athwart the countenance of the Onondago, 
while the muscles of his face worked, but he said nothing. I 
had reason to knoAV afterward that the tablet of his memory 
retained its records better. 

" What friends have you with you to-day, Jaaf," inquired 
my grandmother, inclining her head toward us peddlers gra- 
ciously, at the same time; a salutation that my uncle Ro and 
myself rose hastily to acknowledge. 

As for myself, I own honestly that I could have jumped into 
the vehicle and kissed my dear grandmother's still good-look- 
ing but colorless cheeks, and hugged Patt, and possibly some 
of the others, to my heart. Uncle Ro had more command of 
liimself; though I could see that the sound of his venerable 
parent's voice, in which the tremor was barely perceptible, was 
near overcoming him. 

"Dese be peddler, ma'am, I do s'pose," answered the black. 
"Dey's got box wid somet'in' in him, and dey's got new kind 
of fiddle. Come, young man, gib Miss Dus a tune — a libely 
one ; sich as make an ole nigger dance." 

I drew round the hurdy-gurdy, and was beginning to flourish 
away, when a gentle sweet voice, raised a little louder than 
usual by eagerness, interrupted me. 

"Oh! not that thing, not that; the flute, the flute!" ex- 
claimed Mary Warren, blushing to the eyes at her own bold- 
ness, the instant she saw that she was heard, and that I was 
about to comply. 

It is hardly necessary to say that I bowed respectfully, laid 



THE KED SKINS. 157 

down the hurdy-gurdy, drew the flute from my pocket, and, 
after a few flourishes, commenced playing one of the newest airs, 
or melodies, from a fovorite opera. I saw the color rush into 
Martha's cheeks the moment I had got through a bar or two, 
and the start she gave satisfied me that the dear girl remem- 
bered her brother's flute. I had played on that very instrument 
ever since I was sixteen, but I had made an immense progress 
in the art during the five years just passed in Europe. Masters 
at Naples, Paris, Vienna and London had done a great deal for 
me ; and I trust I shall not be thought vain if I add, that nature 
had done something too. My excellent grandmother listened 
in profound attention, and all four of the girls were enchanted. 

" That music is -worthy of being heard in a room," observed 
the former, as soon as I concluded the air; "and we shall hope 
to hear it this evening, at the Nest house, if you remain any- 
where near us. In the mean time, "we must pursue our airing." 

As my grandmother spoke she leaned forward, and extended 
her hand to me, with a benevolent smile. I advanced, receivetl 
the dollar that was oftered, and, unable to command my feel- 
ings, raised the hand to my lips, respectfully but with fervor. 
Had Martha's face been near me, it would have suftered also. 
I suppose there was nothing in this respectful salutation that 
struck the spectators as very much out of the way, foreigners 
having foreign customs, but I saw a flush in my venerable grand- 
mother's cheek, as the carriage moved off". She had noted the 
warmth of the manner. My uncle had turned away, I dare say 
to conceal the tears that started to his eyes, and Jaaf followed 
toward the door of the hut, whither my uncle moved, in order 
to do the honors of the place. This left me quite alone with 
the Indian. 

"Why no kiss face of grandmodder?" asked the Onondago, 
coolly and quietly. 

Had a clap of thunder broken over my head, I could not 
have been more astonished ! The disguise that had deceived 
my nearest relations — that had bafiied Seneca Ncwcome, and 
had set at naught even his sister Opportunity — had failed to 



158 THE K E D S K I N S , 

conceal uie from that Indian, wliose faculties might be supposed 
to have been numbed with age ! 

"Is it possible that you know me, Susquesus !" I exclaimed, 
signing toward the negro at the same time, by way of cau- 
tion ; " that you remember me, at all ! I should have thought 
this wig, these clothes, would have concealed me." 

" Sartain," answered the aged Indian, calmly. "Know 
young chief soon as see him ; know fader — know mudder ; know 
gran'fad^r, gran' mudder — great-gran'fader ; his fader, too ; know 
all. Why forget young chief ?" 

" Did you know me before I kissed my grandmother's hand, 
or only by that act ? 

"Know as soon as see him. What eyes good for, if don't 
knew ? Know uncle, dere, sartain ; welcome home !" 

"But you will not let others know us, too. Trackless ? AVe 
have always been friends, I hope ?" 

"Be sure, friends. Why ole eagle, wid white head, strike 
young pigeon ? Nebber hatchet in 'e path between Susquesus 
and any of de tribe of Ravensnest. Too ole to dig him up 
noAV." 

" There are good reasons why my uncle and myself should 
not be know^n for a few days. Perhaps you have heard some- 
thing of the trouble that has grown up between the landlords 
and the tenants, in the land ?" 

" What dat trouble?" 

" The tenants are tired of paying rent, and wish to make a 
new bargain, by which they can become owners of the farms on 
which they live." 

A grim light played upon the swarthy countenance of the 
Indian : his lips moved, but he uttered nothing aloud. 

" Have you heard any thing of this, Susquesus ?" 

" Little bird sing sich song in my ear — didn't like to hear 
it." 

" And of Indians who are moving up and down the country, 
armed with rifles and dressed in calico ?" 

"What tribe, <lcm Tnjin," asked the Trackless, with a quick- 



THE It E 1) 8 K I N S . 



159 



noss and a fire I did not think it possible for him to retain. 
"What 'cy do, marchin' 'bout? — on war-path, ch?" 

" In one sense they may be said to be so. They belong to 
the anti-rent tribe ; do you know such a nation ?" 

" Poor Injin dat, b'lieve. Why come so late ? — why no 
come when 'e foot of Susquesus light as feather of bird ? — why 
stay away till pale-faces plentier dan leaf on tree, or snow in 
air ? Hundred year ago, when dat oak little, sich Injin might 
be good ; now, he good for nuttin'." 

" But you will keep our secret, Sus ? — will not even tell the 
negro who we are ?" 

The Trackless simply nodded his head in assent. After this 
he seemed to me to sink back in a sort of brooding lethargy, 
as if indisposed to pursue the subject. I left him to go to my 
uncle, in order to relate what had just passed. Mr. Roger Lit- 
tlcpage was as much astonished as I had been myself, at hear- 
ing that one so aged should have detected us through disguises 
that had deceived our nearest of kin. But the quiet penetra- 
tion and close observation of the man had long been remark- 
able. As his good faith Avas of proof, however, neither felt any 
serious apprehension of being betrayed, as soon as he had a 
moment for reflection. 




100 



THE REDSKINS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

" He saw a cottage with a double coach-house, 
A cottage of gentility ; 
And the devil did grin, for his darling sin 
Is the pride that apes hiiuiilii}'." 

Devil's Tiioccuts. 

It was now necessary to determine what course wc ought 
next to pursue. It might appear presuming in men of our pur- 
suits to go to the Nest before the appointed time ; and did we 
proceed on to the village, we shoiild have the distance between 
the two places to walk over twice, carrying our instruments and 
jewel-box. After a short consultation, it was decided to visit 
the nearest dwellings, and to remain as near my own house as 
was practicable, making an arrangement to sleep somewhere in 
its immediate vicinity. Could we trust any one with our secret, 
our fare would probably be all the better ; but my uncle thought 
it most prudent to maintain a strict incognito until he had ascer- 
tained the true state of things in the town. 

We took leave of the Indian and the negro, therefore, prom- 
ising to visit them again in the course of that or the succeeding 
day, and folloAved the path that led to the farm-house. It was 
our opinion that Ave might, at least, expect to meet with friends 
in the occupants of the home farm. The same family had 
been retained in possession there for three generations, and 
being hired to manage the husbandry and to take care of the 
dairy, there was not the same reason for the disaffection, that 
was said so generally to exist among the tenantry, prevailing 
among them. The name of this family was Miller, and it con- 
sisted of the two heads and some six or seven children, most of 
the latter being still quite young. 

"Tom Miller was a trusty lad, when I knew much of him," 



THE REDSKINS. 101 

said my undo, ns we drew near to the bam, in wliich we saw 
the party mentioned, at work; "and he is said to have be- 
haved well in one or two alarms they have had at the Nest, this 
summer ; still, it may be wiser not to let even him into our 
secret as yet." 

*' I am quite of your mind, sir," I answered ; " for who 
knows that he has not just as strong a desire as any of them to 
own the farm on which he lives? He is the grandson of the 
man who cleared it from the forest, and has much the same 
title as the rest of them." 

" Very true ; and why should not that give him just as good 
a right to claim an interest in the farm, beyond that he has got 
under his contract to work it, as if he held a lease ? He who 
holds a lease gets no right beyond his bargain ; nor does this 
man. The one is paid for his labor by the excess of his re- 
ceipts over the amount of his annual rent, while the other is 
paid partly in what he raises, and partly in wages. In principle 
there is no difference whatever, not a particle ; yet I question 
if the veriest demagogue in the state would venture to say that 
the man, or the family, which works the farm for hire, even for 
a hundred years, gets the smallest right to say he shall not 
quit it, if its owner please, as soon as his tenn of service is 
up!" 

" ' The love of money is the root of all evil ;' and Avhcn that 
feeling is uppermost, one can never tell what a man will 
do. The bribe of a good farm, obtained for nothing, or for an 
insignificant price, is sufficient to upset the morality of even 
Tom Miller." 

"You are right, Hugh; and here is one of the points in 
which our political men betray the cloven foot. They write, 
and proclaim, and make speeches, as if the anti-rent troubles 
grew out of the durable lease system solely, whereas w^e all 
know that it is extended to all descriptions of obligations given 
for the occupancy of land — life leases, leases for a term of years, 
articles for deeds, and bonds and mortgages. It is a wide- 
spread, though not yet universal' attempt of those who have the 



1G2 THE REDSKINS. 

least claim to tlic possession of real estate, to obtain the entire 
right, and that by agencies that neither the law nor good 
morals will justify. It is no new expedient for partisans to 
place en evidence no more of their principles and intentions than 
suits their purposes. But, here we are within ear-shot, and 
must resort to the High Dutch. Guten tag, gutcn tag,'''' con- 
tinued uncle Ro, dropping easily into the broken English of our 
masquerade, as we walked into the barn, where Miller, two of 
his older boys, and a couple of hired men were at work, grind- 
ing scythes and preparing for the approaching hay -harvest. *' It 
might be warm day, dis fine mornin'." 

"Good-day, good-day," cried Miller, hastily, and glancing 
his eye a little curiously at our equipments. " What have you 
got in your box — essences ?" 

"Nein; vatches and drinkets ;" setting down the box and 
opening it at once, for the inspection of all present. " Von't 
you burchase a goot vatch, dis bleasant mornin' ?" 

"Be they ra-al gold?" asked Miller, a little doubtingly. 
"And all them chains and rings, be they gold too?" 

" Not true golt ; nein, I might not say dat. But goot en- 
ough golt for blain folks, like you and me." 

"Them things would never do for the grand quality over at 
the big house 1" cried one of the laborers, who was unknown to 
me, but whose name I soon ascertained was Joshua Brigham, 
and who spoke with a sort of malicious sneer that at once be- 
trayed he was no friend. "You mean 'em for poor folks, I 
s'pose ?" 

" I means dem for any bodies dat will pay deir money for 
'em," answered my uncle. " Vould you like a vatch?" 

" That would I ; and a farm, too, if I could get 'em cheap," 
answered Brigham, with a sneer he did not attempt to conceal. 
" How do you sell farms to-day ?" 

"I haf got no farms; I sells drinkets and vatches, but 1 
doesn't sell farms. Vhat I haf got I vill sell, but I cannot sells 
vhat I haf not got." 

" Oh ! you'll get all you want if you'll stay long enough in 



Til E RED SKIN S. 163 

this country ! This is a free land, and jnst the place for a poor 
man ; or it will be, as soon as we get all the lords and aristocrats 
out of it." 

This was the first time I had ever heard this political blarney 
with my own ears, though I had understood it was often used 
by those who wish to give to their own particular envy and 
covetousness a grand and sounding air. 

"Veil, I haf heards dat in America dere might not be any 
noples ant aristocrats," put in my uncle, with an appearance 
of beautiful simplicity ; " and dat dere ist not ein graaf in der 
whole coontry," 

"Oh! there's all soits of folks here, just as they are to be 
found elsewhere," cried Miller, seating himself coolly on the 
end of the grindstone-frame, to open and look into the myster- 
ies of one of the watches. "Now, Joseph Brigham, here, calls 
all that's above him in the world aristocrats, but he doesn't call 
all that's below him his equals," 

I liked that speech ; and I liked the cool, decided way in 
which it was uttered. It denoted, in its spirit, a man who saw 
things as they are, and who was not afraid to say what he 
thought about them. My uncle Ro was surprised, and that 
agreeably, too, and he turned to Miller to pursue the discourse. 

" Den dere might not be any nopility in America, after all?" 
he asked, inquiringly. 

" Yes, there's plenty of such lords as Josh here, who want to 
be uppermost so plaguily that they don't stop to touch all the 
rounds of the ladder. I tell him, friend, he wants to get on too 
fast, and that he mustn't set up for a gentleman before he 
knows how to behave himself." 

Josh looked a little abashed at a rebuke that came from one 
of his own class, and which ho must have felt, in secret, was 
merited. But the demon was at work in him, and he had per- 
suaded himself that he was the champion of a quality as sacred 
as liberty, when, in fact, he was simply and obviously doing 
neither more nor less than breaking the tenth commandment. 
He did not like to give up, while he skirmished with Miller, as 



16 4 T II E R E D S K I N S . 

tlie dog tli;it lias been beaten already two or tliree times gro\Yl3 
over a bone iit the approach of his conqueror. 

"Well, thank heaven," he cried, " / have got some spirit in 
my body." 

"That's very true, Joshua," answered Miller, laying down 
one watch and taking up another; " but it happens to be an 
evil spirit." 

"Now, here's them Littlepages ; what makes them bcttei 
than other folks?" 

"You had better let the Littlepages alone, Joshua, sccin' 
they're a family that you know nothing at all about." 

"I don't want to know them; though I do happen to know 
all I want to know. I despise 'em." 

"No you don't, Joshy, my boy; nobody despises folks they 
talk so spitefully about. What's the price of this here watch, 
friend?" 

"Four dollars," said my uncle, eagerly, falling lower than 
was prudent, in his desire to reward Miller for his good feeling 
and sound sentiments. " Ja, ja — you might haf das vatch for 
four dollars." 

"I'm afraid it isn't good for any thing," returned Miller, 
feeling the distrust that was natural at hearing a price so low. 
"Let's have another look at its inside." 

No man, probably, ever bought a watch without looking into 
its works with an air of great intelligence, though none but a 
mechanician is any wiser for his survey. Tom Miller acted on 
this principle, for the good looks of the machine he lield in his 
hand, and the four dollars, tempted him sorely. It had its effect, 
too, on the turbulent and envious Joshua, who seemed to un- 
derstand himself very well in a bargain. Neither of the men 
had supposed the watches to be of gold, for though tlie metal 
that is in a watch does not amount to a great deal, it is usually 
of more value than all that was asked for the "article" now 
under examination. In point of foct, my uncle had this very 
watch "invoiced to him" at twice the price ho now put it at. 
"And what do you ask for this?" demanded Joshua, taking 



T II E U E D S K I N S . ] G5 

up anotlier watch of very similar looks and of equal value to the 
one that Miller still retained open in his hand. "Won't you 
let this go for three dollars?" 

"No; der hrice of dat is effery cent of forty dollars," an- 
swered uncle Ro, stubbornly. 

" The two men now looked at tlie peddler in surprise. Mil- 
ler took the watch from his hired man, examined it attentively, 
compared it with the other, and then demanded its price anew, 

" Fbit might Laf eider of dem vatches for four dollars," re- 
turned my uncle, as I thought, incautiously. 

This occasioned a new surprise, though Brigham fortunately 
referred the difference to a mistake. 

"Oh!" he said, "I understood you to say forUj dollars. 
Four dollars is a different matter." 

"Josh," interrupted the more obsci*vant and cooler-headed 
Miller, "it is high time, now, you and Peter go and look a'ter 
them slieep. The conch will soon be blowing for dinner. If 
you want a trade, you can have one when you get back." 

Notwithstanding the plainness of his appearance and lan- 
guage, Tom Miller was captain of his own company. He gave 
this order quietly, and in his usual familiar way, but it was ob- 
viously to be obeyed without a remonstrance. In a minute the 
two hired men were off in company, leaving no one behind in 
the barn but Miller, his sons, and us two. I could see there 
was a motive for all this, but did not understand it. 

"Now Ae'* gone," continued Tom quietly, but laying an em- 
phasis that sufficiently explained his meaning, "perhaps you'll 
let me know the true price of this Avatch. I've a mind for it, 
and may be we can agree." 

" Four dollars," answered my uncle, distinctly. " I haf said 
vou might haf it for dat money, and vhat I haf said once might 
always be." 

" I will take it, then. I almost wish you had asked eight, 
though four dollars saved is suthin' for a poor ijian. It's so 
plaguy cheap I'm a little afraid ou't; but I'll ventur. There ; 
there's your money, and in hard cash." 



166 THE REDSKINS. 

"Dank you, sir. Won't das ladies clioose to look at my 
drinkets?" 

"Oil! if you want to deal witli ladies who buy chains and 
rings, the Nest house is the place. My woman wouldn't know 
what to do with sich things, and don't set herself up for a fine 
lady at all. That chap who has just gone for the sheep is the 
only great man we have about this farm." 

*' Ja, ja ; he ist a nople in a dirty shirt : ja, ja ; why hast ho 
dem pig feelin's?" 

"I believe you have named them just as they ought to be, 
p't(fs feelin's. It's because he wishes to thrust his own snout 
all over the trough, and is mad when he finds any body else's in 
the way. We're getting to have plenty of such fellows up and 
down the country, and an uncomfortable time they give us. 
Boys, I do believe it will turn out a'ter all, that Josh is an 
Injin !" 

" I knoto he is," answered the oldest of the two sons, a lad 
of nineteen ; " where else should he be so much of nights and 
Sundays, but at their trainin's ? — and what was the meanin' of 
the calico bundle I saw under his arm a month ago, as I told 
you on at the time ?" 

" If I find it out to be as you say, Harry, he shall tramp off 
of this farm. I'll have no Injins here 1" 

" Veil I dought I dit see an olt Injin in a hut up yonder ast 
by der woots !" put in my uncle, innocently. 

" Oh ! that is Susquesus, an Onondago ; ho is a true Injin, 
and a gentleman ; but we have a parcel of the mock gentry 
about, who are a pest and an eyesore to every honest man in the 
country. Half on 'em are nothing but thieves in mock Injin 
iresses. The law is ag'in 'em, right is ag'in 'em, and every 
true friend of liberty in the country ought to bo ag'in 'em." 

'* Vhat ist der matter in dis coontry ? I hear in Europe how 
America ist a free lant, ant how efery man hast his rights ; but 
since I got here dey do nothin' but talk of barons, and noples, 
and tenants, and arisdograts, and all der bat dings I might leaf 
bohint mc in der olt worlt." 



THE IlEU SKINS. 167 

Tlic plain matter is, friend, tliat tliey who have got Utile, cn^^ 
them that's got much ; and tlie struggle is, to see which is the 
strongest. On the one side is the law, and right, and bargains, 
and contracts ; and on the other thousands — not of dollars, but 
of men. Thousands of voters ; d'ye understand ?" 

" Ja, ja — I oonderstands ; dat ist easy enough. But vhy do 
dey dalk so much of noples and arisdograts ? — ist der noples and 
arisdograts in America?'' 

" Well, I don't much understand the natur' of sich things ; 
there sartainly is a difference in men, and a difference in their 
fortun's, and edications, and such sort of things." 

"Und der law, den, favors der rich man at der cost of der 
poor, in America, too, does it ? Und you haf arisdograts who 
might not pay taxes, and who holt all der offices, and get all 
der pooblic money, and who ist petter pefore de law, in all 
dings, dan ast dem dat be not arisdograts ? Is it so ?" 

Miller laughed outright, and shook his head at this question, 
continuing to examine the trinkets the whole time. 

" No, no, my friend, we've not much of that, in this part of 
the world, either. Rich men get very few offices, to begin 
with ; for it's an argooment in favor of a man for an office, that 
he's poor, and wants it. Folks don't so much ask who the 
office wants, as who wants the office. Then, as for taxes, there 
isn't much respect paid to the rich, on that score. Young 
'Squire Littlepage pays the tax on this farm directly himself, 
and it's assessed half as high ag'in, all things considered, as any 
other farm on his estate." 

"But dat is not right." 

" llight ! Who says it is ? — or who thinks there is any thing 
light about assessments, anywhere ? I have heard assessors, 
with my own ears, use such words as these: — *Sich a man is 
rich, and can afford to pay,' and 'sich a man is poor, and it 
will come hard on him.' Oh ! they kiver up dishonesty, now- 
adays, under all sorts of argooments." 

"But der law; der rich might haf dor law on dcir side, 
surely!" 



IG8 THE REDSKINS. 

" 111 Avh'it way, I should like to know ? Juries be every thing, 
and juries will go accordin' to tlieir feelln's, as well as other 
men. I've seen the things with my own eyes. The country 
pays just enough a day to make poor men like to be on juries, 
and they never fail to attend, while them that can pay their 
fines stay away, and so leave the law pretty much in the hands 
of one party. No rich man gains his cause, unless his case is 
so strong it can't be helped." 

I had heard this before, there being a very general complaint 
throughout the country of the practical abuses connected with 
the jury system. I have heard intelligent lawyers complain, 
that whenever a cause of any interest is to be tried, the first 
question asked is not " what are the merits?" " which has the 
law and the facts on his side ?" but "who is likely to be on the 
jury?" — thus obviously placing the composition of the jury 
before either law or evidence. Systems may have a very fair 
ai>pcarance on paper and as theories, that are execrable in prac- 
tice. As for juries, I believe the better opinion of the intelli- 
gent of all countries is, that while they are a capital contrivance 
to resist the abuse of power in narrow governments, in govern- 
ments of a broad constituency they have the eftect, Avhich might 
easily be seen, of placing the control of the law in the hands of 
those who would be most apt to abuse it ; since it is adding to, 
instead of withstanding and resisting the controlling authority 
of the state, from which, in a popular government, most of the 
abuses must unavoidably proceed. 

As for my uncle Ro, he was disposed to pursue the subject 
with Miller, who turned out to be a discreet and conscientious 
man. After a very short pause, as if to reflect on what had 
been said, he resumed the discourse. 

"Vhat, den, makes arisdograts in dis coontry ?" asked my 
uncle. 

" Wa-a-l" — no man but an American of New England de- 
scent, as was the case with Miller, can give this word its Attic 
sound — " Wa-a-l, it's hard to say. I hear a great deal about 
aristocrats, and I read a great deal about aristocrats, in this 



THE REDSKINS. 169 

country, and I know that most folks look upon tliem as hateful, 
but I'm by no means sartain I know what an aristocrat is. Do 
you happen to know any thing about it, friend ?" 

" Ja, ja; an arisdograt ist one of a few men dat hast all do 
power of de government in deir own hands." 

" King ! That isn't what we think an aristocrat in this part 
of the world. Why, we call th^m critters here dimigogues ! 
Now, young 'Squire Littlepage, who owns the Nest house, over 
yonder, and who is owner of all this estate, far and near, is 
what we call an aristocrat, and he hasn't power enough to be 
named town-clerk, much less to any thing considerable, or what 
is worth having." 

" How can he be an arisdograt, den ?" 

"How, sure enough, if your account be true! I tell you 
'tis the dimigogues that be the aristocrats of America. Why, 
Josh Brigham, who has just gone for the sheep, can get mor»» 
votes for any office in the country than young Littlepage !" 

"Berhaps dis young Littlebage ist a pat yoong man ?" 

" Not he ; he's as good as any on 'em, and better than most. 
Besides, if he was as wicked as Lucifer, the folks of the country 
don't know any thing about it, sin' he's be'n away ever sin' he 
has be'n a man." 

" Vhy, den, gan't he haf as many votes as dat poor, ignorant 
fellow might haf? — das ist ott." 

" It is odd, but it's true as gospel. TF/^y, it may not be so 
easy to tell. Many men, many minds, you know. Some folks 
don't like him because he lives in a big house : some hate liim 
because they think he is better off than they are themselves ; 
others mistrust him because he wears a fine coat ; and some 
pretend to laugh at him because he got his property from his 
father, and grand'ther, and so on, and didn't make it himself. 
Accordin' to some folks' notions, nowadays, a man ought to 
enj'y only the property he heaps together himself." 

" If dis be so, your Herr Littlebage ist no arisdograt." 

" Wa-a-l, that isn't the idee, hereaway. We have had a 
great ninny n)oetin'>^, latterly, about the right of the people to 



170 THEKEDSKINS. 

thoir fiirms ; and there has been a good deal of talk at tlicm 
jueetin's consarnin' aristocracy and feudal tenors ; do you know 
■what a feudal tenor is ?" 

" Ja; dere ist moch of dat in Tcutchland — in mine coontry. 
It ist not ferry easy to explain it in a few vords, but der brinci- 
pal ding ist dat der vassal owes a serfice to hist lort. In de 
olten dimes dis serfice vast military, und dere ist someding of 
dat now. It ist de noples who owe der feudal serfice, briu- 
cipally, in mine coontry, and dey owes it to de kings and 
brhices." 

"And don't you call giving a chicken for rent feudal service, 
in Germany ?" 

Uncle Ro and I laughed, in spite of our efforts to the contrary, 
there being a bathos in this question that was supremely ridic- 
ulous. Curbing his merriment, however, as soon as he could, 
my uncle answered the question. 

"If der landlordt has a right to coome and dake as many 
chickens as he bleases, und ast often ast he bleases, den dat 
wouldt look like a feudal right ; but if de lease says dat so many 
chickens moost be paid a year, for der rent, vhy dat ist all der 
same as baying so much moneys; und it might be easier for 
der tenant to bay in chicken ast it might be to bay in der silver. 
Vhen a man canst bay his debts in vhat he makes himself, he 
ist ferry interpentent." 

" It does seem so, I vow ! Yet there's folks about here 
and some at Albany, that call it feudal for a man to have to 
carry a pair of fowls to the landlord's ofllcc, and the landlord an 
aristocrat for asking it !" 

" But der man canst sent a poy, or a gal, or a nigger wid his 
fowls, if he bleases ?" 

" Sartain ; all that is asked is that the fowls should come. 

" Und vhen der batroon might owe hist tailor, or hist shoo- 
njaker, must he not go to hist shop, or find him and bay him 
vhat he owes, or be suet for der debt?" 

"That's true, too ; boys, put mc in mind of telling that to 
Josh, this evening. Yes, the gr<'atost landlord in the land must 



THEKEDSKINS. l7l 

hunt up his creditor, or be sued, all the same as the lowest 
tenant." 

"Und he most bay in a parti c'lar ding; he most bay in golt 
or silver ?" 

" True ; lawful tender is as good for one as 'tis for t'other." 

"Und if your Herr Littlebage signs a baper agrceiu' to gif 
dcr apples from dat orchart to somebody on his landts, most he 
send or carry der apples, too s" 

" To be sure; that would be the bargain." 

" Und he most carry der ferry apples dat grows on dem ferry 
drees, might it not be so ?" 

" All true as gospel. If a man contracts to sell the apples of 
one orchard, he can't put off the purchaser with the apples of 
another." 

"Und dcr law ist der same for one ast for anudder, in dose 
t'ings?" 

"There is no difference ; and there should be none." 

"Und der batroons und der landlordts wants to haf der law 
changet, so dat dey may be excuset from baying der debts ac- 
cordin' to der bargains, und to gif dem atfantages over der poor 
tenants f ' 

"I never heard any thing of the sort, and don't believe they 
want any such change." 

"Of vhat, den, dost der beople complain ?" 

" Of having to pay rent at all ; they think the landlords ought 
to be made to sell their farms, or give them away. Some stand 
out for the last." 

"But der landlordts don't vant to sell deir farms; und dey 
might not be made to sell vhat ist deir own, and vhat dey 
don't vant to sell, any more dan der tenants might be made 
to sell deir hogs and deir sheep, vhen dey don't vant to sell 
dem." 

" It does seem so, boys, as I've told the neighbors, all along. 
But I'll tell this Dutchman all about it. Some folks want the 
state to look a'ter the title of young Littlepagc, pretending he 
has no title." 



172 Til E KE D SK IN S. 

"But deK state wilt do dat widout asking for it particularly, 
villit not?" 

" I never heard that it would." 

" If any body hast a claim to dcr bropcrty, vilt not dcr courts 
try it?" 

"Yes, yes — in that way; but a tenant can't set up a title 
ag"n his landlord." 

" Vhy should he ? He canst haf no title but his landlort's, 
and it vould be roguery and cheatery to let a man get into der 
bossession of a farm under der pretence of hiring it, und den 
come out und claim it as owner. If any tenant dinks he hast a 
better right dan his landlort, he can put der farm vhere it vast 
before he might be a tenant, und den der state wilt examine 
into der title, I fancy." 

"Yes, yes — in that way; but these men want it another 
way. What they want is, for the state to set up a legal exami- 
nation, and turn the landlords oif altogether, if they can, and 
then let themselves have the farms in their stead." 

" But dat would not be honest to dem dat hafen't nothing to 
do wid der farms. If der state owns der farms, it ought to get 
as moch as it can for dem, and so safe all der people from bay- 
ing taxes. It looks like roguery, all roundt." 

"I believe it is that, and nothing else! As you say, the 
state will examine into the title as it is, and there is no need of 
any laws about it." 

" Would der state, dink you, pass a law dat might inquire 
into de demands dat are made against der batroons, vhen der 
tratesman sent in deir bills ?" 

" I should like to see any patroon ask sich a thing 1 lie 
would be laughed at, from York to Buffalo." 

" Und he would desarf it. By vhat I see, frient, your denants 
be der arisdograts, und der landlordts der vassals." 

"Why you see — what may your name be? — as we're likely 
to become acquainted, I should like to know your name. 

"My name is Greisenbach, und I comes from Preussen." 

"Well, Mr. Greisenbach, the difficulty about aristocracy is 



THE REDSKINS. iVS 

this. Hugh Littlepagc is rich, and his money gives him advan- 
tages that other men can't enj'y« Now, that sticks in some 
folks' crops." 

" Oh ! den it ist meant to divite broperty in dis coontry ; 
und to say no man might haf more ast anudder !" 

" Folks don't go quite as far as that, yet ; though some of 
their talk does squint that-a-way, I must own. Now, there arc 
folks about here that complain that old Madam Littlepage and 
her young ladies don't visit the poor." 

"Veil, if deys be hard-hearted, und hast no feelin's for der 
poor and miseraple " 

" No, no ; that is not what I mean, neither. As for that 
sort of poor, every body alloAvs they do more for them than any 
body else about here. But they don't visit the poor that isn't 
in want." 

" Veil, it ist a ferry coomfortable sort of poor dat ist not m 
any vant. Berhaps you mean dey don't associate wid 'em, as 
equals ?" 

" That's it. Now, on that head, I must say there is some 
truth in the charge, for the gals over at the Nest never come 
here to visit my gal, and Kitty is as nice a young thing as there 
is about." 

" Und Gitty goes to visit the gal of the man who lives over 
yonter, in de house on der hill ?" pointing to a residence of a 
man of the very humblest class in the town. 

" Hardly ! Kitty's by no means proud, but I shouldn't like 
her to be too thick there." 

" Oh ! you're an arisdograt, den, after all ; else might your 
daughter visit dat man's dauirhter." 

" I tell you, Grunzebach, or whatever your name may be," 
returned Miller, a little angrily, though a particularly good- 
natured man in the main, " that my gal shall not visit old Ste- 
ven's da'ghters." 

'* Veil, I'm stire she might do as she bleases ; but I dinks 
der Mademoiselles Littlepage might do ast dey pleases, too." 
■ " There is but one Littlepage gal ; if you saw them out this 



174 T H E 1! E 1) S K I N S. 

morning in tlie carriage, you saw two York gals and parson 
Warren's da'gliter with her." 

" Und dis parson Warren might be rich, too ?" 

"Not he; ho hasn't a sixpence on 'arth but Avhat he gets 
from the parish. Why he is so poor his friends had to edicate 
his da'ghter, I have heern say, over and over !" 

"Und das Littlepage gal und de Warren gal might be goot 
friends?" 

" They are the thickest together of any two young women in 
this part of the world. I've never seen two gals more intimate. 
Now, there's a young lady in the town, one Opportunity New- 
come, who, one might think, would stand before Mary War- 
ren at the big house, any day in the week, but she doesn't ! 
Mary takes all the shine out on her." 

" Which ist dcr richest, Obbordunity or Mary ?" 

"By all accounts Mary Warren has nothing, while Oppor 
tunity is thought to come next to Matty herself, as to property, 
of all the young gals about here. But Opportunity is no favor- 
ite at the Nest." 

" Den it would seem, after all, dat dis Miss Littlebage does 
not choose her friends on account of riches. She likes Mary 
Warren, who ist boor, und she does not like Obbordunity, who 
ist veil to do in do vorlt. Berhaps der Littlepagcs be not as 
big arisdograts as you supposes." 

"Miller was bothered, while I felt a disposition to laugh. 
One of the commonest errors of those who, from position and 
habits, are unable to appreciate the links which connect culti- 
vated society together, is to refer every thing to riches. Riches, 
in a certain sense, as a means and through their consequences, 
may be a principal agent in dividing society into classes ; but, 
long after riches have taken wings, their fruits remain, when 
good use has been made of their presence. So untrue is the 
vulgar opinion — or it might be better to say the opinion of the 
nilgar — that money is the one tie which unites polished society, 
that it is a fact which all must know who have access to the 
better circles, of even our own commercial towns, that those 



THEREDSKINS. l75 

circles, loosely and accidentally constructed as tiicy are, re- 
ceive witli reluctance, nay, often sternly exclude, vulgar wealth 
from their associations, while the door is open to the cultivated 
\yho have nothing. The young, in particular, seldom think 
much of money, while family connections, early communications, 
similarity of opinions, and, most of all, of tastes, bring sets 
together, and often keep them together long after the golden 
band has been broken. 

But men have great diflSculty in comprehending things that 
lie beyond their reach; and money being apparent to the 
senses, while refinement, through its infinite gradations, is vis- 
ible principally, and in some cases exclusively, to its possessors, 
it is not surprising that common minds should refer a tie that, to 
them, would otherwise be mysterious, to the more glittering 
influence, and not to the less obvious. Infinite, indeed, are the 
gradations of cultivated habits ; nor are as many of them the 
fruits of caprice and self-indulgence as men usually suppose. 
There is a common sense, nay, a certain degree of wisdom, in 
the laws of even etiquette, while they are confined to equals, 
that bespeak the respect of those who understand them. As 
for the influence of associations on men's manners, on their 
exteriors, and even on their opinions, my uncle Ro has long 
maintained that it is so apparent, that one of his time of life 
could detect the man of the world, at such a place as Saratoga 
even, by an intercourse of five minutes ; and what is more, that 
he could tell the class in life from which he originally emerged. 
He tried it, the last summer, on our return from Ravensnest, 
and I was amused with his success, though he made a feAv mis- 
takes, it must be admitted. 

"That young man comes from the better circles, but he has 
never travelled," he said, alluding to one of a group which still 
remained at table ; " while he who is next him has travelled, 
but commenced badly." This may seem a very nice distinction, 
but I think it is easily made. " There are two brothers, of an 
excellent family in Pennsylvania," he continued, " as one might 
know from the name ; the eldest has travelled, the youngest has 



176 THEEEDSKINS. 

not." This Avas a still Larder distinction to mate, but one who 
knew the world as well as my uncle E,o, could do it. He went 
on amusing me by his decisions^all of which were respectable, 
and some surprisingly accurate — in this way for several minutes. 
Now, hke has an affinity to like, and in this natural attraction 
is to be found the secret of the ordinary construction of society. 
You shall put two men of superior minds in a room full of com- 
pany, and they will find each other out directly, and enjoy the 
accident. The same is true as to the mere modes of thinking 
that characterize social castes ; and it is truer in this country, 
perhaps, than most others, from the mixed character of our 
associations. Of the two, I am really of opinion that the man 
of high intellect, who meets with one of moderate capacity, but 
of manners and social opinions on a level with his own, has 
more pleasure in the communication than with one of equal 
mind, but of inferior habits. 

That Patt should cling to one like Mary Warren seemed to 
me quite as natural as that she should be averse to much asso- 
ciation with Opportunity Newcome. The money of the latter, 
had my sister been in the least liable to such an influence, was 
so much below what she had been accustomed, all her life, to 
consider affluence, that it would have had' no effect, even had 
she been subject to so low a consideration in regulating her in- 
tercourse with others. But this poor Tom Miller could not 
understand. He could " only reason from what he knew," 
and he knew little of the comparative notions of wealth, and less 
of the powers of cultivation on the mind and manners. He 
was struck, however, with a fact that did come completely 
within the circle of his own knowledge, and that was the cir- 
cumstance that Mary Warren, while admitted to be poor, was 
the bosom friend of her whom he was pleased to call, some- 
times, the "Littlepage gal." It was easy to see he felt the 
force of this circumstance ; and it is to be hoped that, as he 
was certainly a wiser, he also became a better man, on one of 
the most common of the weaknesses of human frailty. 

" Wa-a-1," he replied to my uncle's last remark, after fully a 



THEREDSKINS. 177 

minute of silent reflection, "I don't know! It would seem so, 
I vow; and yet it hasn't been my wife's notion, nor is it Kitty's. 
You're quite upsetting my idees about aristocrats ; for though 
I like the Littlepages, I've always set 'em down as desp'rate 
aristocrats." 

"Nein, nein; dera as vat you calls dimigogues be der Amer- 
ican arisdograts. Dey gets all der money of der pooblic, und 
haf all der power, but dey gets a little mads because dey might 
not force demselves on der gentlemen and laties of der coontry, 
as veil as on der lands und der offices!" 

"I swan! I don't know but this may be true! A'ter all, I 
don't know what right any body has to complain of the Little- 
pages." 

"Does dey dreat beoples veil, as might coome to see dem?" 

"Yes, indeed! if folks treat them well, as sometimes doesn't 
happen. I've seen hogs here" — Tom was a little Saxon in his 
figures, but their nature will prove their justification — " I've 
seen hogs about here, bolt right in before old Madam Little- 
page, and draw their chairs up to her fire, and squirt about the 
tobacco, and never think of even taking oflf their hats. Them 
folks be always huffy about their own importance, though they 
never think of other people's feelin's." 

We were interrupted by the sound of wheels, and lookino- 
round, we perceived that the carriage of my grandmother had 
driven up to the farm-house door, on its return home. Miller 
conceived it to be no more than proper to go and see if he were 
wanted, and we followed him slowly, it being the intention of 
my uncle to offer his mother a watch, by way of ascertaining i'" 
she could penetrate his disguise. 



lis 



THE REDSKINS. 



CHAPTER X. 

" Will you buy any tnpo, 
Or laco for your cape ? — 
Come to the peddler, 
Money's a meddler 
That doth utter uU men's ware-n." 

WiNTEK'a Talk. 

There they sat, those four young creatures, a perfect galaxy 
of bright and beaming eyes. There was not a plain face among 
them ; and I was struck with the circumstance of how rare it 
was to meet with a youthful and positively ugly American 
female. Kitty, too, was at the door by the time we reached 
the carriage, and she also was a blooming and attractive-look- 
ing girl. It was a thousand pities that she spoke, however; 
the vulgarity of her utterance, tone of voice, cadences, and ac- 
cents, the latter a sort of singing whine, being in striking con- 
trast to a sort of healthful and vigorous delicacy that marked 
her appearance. All the bright eyes grew brighter as I drew 
nearer, carrying the flute in my hand; but neither of the young 
ladies spoke. 

*'Buy a vatch, ma'ams," said uncle Ro, approaching his 
mother, cap in hand, with his box open. 

"I thank you, friend; but I believe all here are provided 
with watches already." 

"Mine ist ferry sheaps." 

"I dare say they may be," returned dear grandmother, smil- 
ing; "though cheap watches are not usually the best. Is that 
very pretty pencil gold ?" 

"Yes, ma'ams; it ist of goot gold. If it might not be, I 
might not say so." 

I saw suppressed smiles among the girls ; all of whom, how- 



THE REDSKINS. 179 

ever, were too well-bred to betray to common observers the 
sense of the ridiculous that each felt at the equivoque that sug- 
gested itself in my uncle's words. 

" What is the price of this pencil," asked my grandmother. 

** Uncle Roger had too much tact to think of inducing his 
mother to take a purchase as he had influenced Miller, and he 
mentioned something near the true value of the "article," 
which was fifteen dollars. 

" I will take it," returned my grandmother, dropping three 
half-eagles into the box ; when, turning to Mary Warren, she 
begged her acceptance of the pencil, with as much respect in 
her manner as if she solicited instead of conferred a favor. 

Mary Warren's handsome face was covered with blushes; she 
looked pleased, and she accepted the offering, though I thought 
she hesitated one moment about the propriety of so doing, most 
probably on account of its value. My sister asked to look at 
this little present, and after admiring it, it passed from hand to 
hand, each praising its shape and ornaments. All my uncle's 
wares, indeed, were in perfect good taste, the purchase having 
been made of an importer of character, and paid for at some 
cost. The watches, it is true, were, with one or two exceptions, 
cheap, as were most of the trinkets ; but my uncle had about 
his person a watch or two, and some fine jewelry, that he 
had brought from Europe himself, expressly to bestow in pres- 
ents, among which had been the pencil in question, and which 
he had dropped into the box but a moment before it was 
sold- 

"Wa-a-1, Madam Littlepage," cried Miller, who used the 
familiarity of one born on the estate, "this is the queerest 
watch-peddler I've met with, yet. He asks fifteen dollars for 
that pencil, and only four for this watch !" showing his own 
purchase as he concluded. 

My grandmother took the watch in her hand, and examined 
ii attentively. 

" It strikes me as singularly cheap !" she remarked, glancing 
a little distrustfully, as I fancied, at her son, as if she thought 



1 80 T II E K E D S K I N S . 

he might be selling his brushes cheaper than tliosc who only 
stole the materials, because he stole them ready made. '' I 
know that these watches are made for very little in the cheap 
countries of Europe, but one can hardly see how this machinery 
was put together for so small a sum." 

" I has 'em, matam, at all brices," put in my uncle. 

*' I have a strong desire to purchase a good lady's watch, but 
sliould a little fear buying of any but a known and regular 
dealer." 

" You needn't fear us, ma'am," I ventured to say. " If wc 
might sheat anypodies, we shouldn't sheat so goot a laty." 

I do not know whether my voice struck Patt's ear pleasantly, 
or a wish to see the project of her grandmother carried out at 
once, induced my sister to interfere ; but interfere she did, and 
that by urging her aged parent to put confidence in us. Years 
had taught my grandmother caution, and she hesitated. 

"But all these watches are of base metal, and I want one of 
good gold and handsome finish," observed my grandmother. 

My uncle immediately produced a watch that he had bought 
of Blondel, in Paris, for five hundred francs, and which was a 
beautiful little ornament for a lady's belt. He gave it to my 
grandmother, who read the name of the manufacturer with some 
little surprise. The watch itself was then examined attentively, 
and was applauded by all. 

"And what may be the price of this?" demanded my grand- 
mother. 

"One hoondred dollars, matam; and sheaps at dat." 

Tom Miller looked at the bit of tinsel in his own hand, and 
at the smaller, but exquisitely-shaped "article" that my grand- 
mother held up to look at, suspended by its bit of ribbon, and 
was quite as much puzzled as he had evidently been a little 
while before, in his distinctions between the rich and the j^oor. 
Tom was not able to distinguish the base from the true; that 
was all. 

My grandmother did not appear at all alarmed at the price, 
though she cast another distrustful glance or two, over her spec- 



TIIEKKDSKINS. 181 

tacles, at the imaginary peddler. At length the beauty of the 
watch overcame her. 

"If you will bring this watch to yonder large dwelling, I will 
pay you the hundred dollars for it," she said; "I have not as 
much money with me here." 

" Ja, ja — ferry goot; you might keep das vatch, laty, und I 
will coome for der money after I haf got some dinners of some- 
bodys." 

My grandmother had no scruple about accepting of the 
credit, of course, and she was about to put the watch in her 
pocket, when Patt laid her little gloved hand on it, and cried — 

"Now, dearest grandmother, let it be done at once — there is 
no one but us three present, you know !" 

"Such is the impatience of a child!" exclaimed the elder 
lady, laughing. "Well, you shall be indulged. I gave you 
that pencil for a keepsake, Mary, only en attendant, it having 
been my intention to offer a watch, as soon as a suitable one 
could be found, as a memorial of the sense I entertain of the 
spirit you showed during that dark week in which the anti-rent- 
ers were so menacing. Here, then, is such a watch as I might 
presume to ask you to have the goodness to accept." 

Mary Warren seemed astounded ! The color mounted to her 
temples; then she became suddenly pale. I had never seen 
so pretty a picture of gentle female distress — a distress that 
arose from conflicting, but creditable feelings. 

"Oh! Mrs. Littlepage I" she exclaimed, after looking in as- 
tonishment at the ofiering for a moment, and in silence. " You 
cannot liave intended that beautiful watch for me !" 

"For you, my dear; the beautiful watch is not a whit too 
good for my beautiful Mary." 

"But, dear, dear Mrs. Littlepage, it is altogether too hand- 
some for my station — for my means." 

" A lady can very well wear such a watch ; and you are 
a lady in every sense of the word, and so you need have no 
scruples on that account. As for the means, you will not 
niisnndorstand me if I rcHiind vou that it will be bought with 



182 T II E R E D S K 1 N S . 

my means, and there can be no extravagance in the pur- 
chase. " 

" But we are so poor, and that watch has so rich an appear- 
ance ! It scarcely seems right." 

" I respect your feelings and sentiments, my dear girl, and 
can appreciate them. I suppose you know I was once as poor, 
nay, much poorer than you are yourself." 

" You, Mrs. Littlepage ! No, that can hardly be. You are 
of an affluent and very respectable family, I know." 

" It is quite true, nevertheless, my dear. I shall not aflect 
extreme humility, and deny that the Malbones did and do 
belong to the gentry of the land, but my brother and myself 
were once so much reduced as to toil with the surveyors, in 
the woods, quite near this property. "We had then no claim 
superior to yours, and in many respects were reduced much 
lower. Besides, the daughter of an educated and well-con- 
nected clergyman has claims that, in a Avorldly point of view 
alone, entitle her to a certain consideration. You will do me 
the favor to accept my oft'ering ?" 

" Dear Mrs. Littlepage ! I do not know how to refuse you, 
or how to accept so rich a gift ! You will let me consult my 
father, first ?" 

" That will be no more than proper, my dear," returned my 
beloved grandmother, quietly putting the watch into her own 
pocket ; " Mr. Warren, luckily, dines with us, and the matter 
can be settled before we sit down to table." 

This ended the discussion, which had commenced under an 
impulse of feeling that left us all its auditors. As for my uncle 
and myself, it is scarcely necessary to say we were delighted 
with the little scene. The benevolent wish to gratify, on the 
one side, with the natural scruples on the other, about receiv- 
ing, made a perfect picture for our contemplation. The three 
girls, who were witnesses of what passed, too much respected 
Mary's feelings to interfere, though Patt restrained herself with 
difficulty. As to Tom Miller and Kitty, they doubtless won- 
dered why " AVarrcii's gal" was such a fool as to hesitate about 



THE REDSKINS. 183 

accepting a watcli that was worth a hundred dollars. This was 
another point they did not understand. 

" You spoke of dinner," continued my grandmother, looking 
at my uncle. " If you and your companion will follow us to the 
house, I will pay you for the watch, and order you a dinner in 
the bargain." 

We were right down glad to accept this offer, making our 
bows and expressing our thanks, as the carriage whirled off. 
We remained a moment, to take our leave of Miller. 

"When you've got through at the Nest," said that semi- 
worthy fellow, " give us another call here. I should like my 
woman and Kitty to have a look at your finery, before you go 
down to the village with it." 

With a promise to return to the farm-house, we proceeded on 
our way to the building which, in the familiar parlance of the 
country, was called the Nest, or the Nest house, from Ravens- 
nest, its true name, and which Tom Miller, in his country 
dialect, called the "Neest." The distance between the two 
buildings was less than half a mile, the grounds of the family 
residence lying partly between them. Many persons would 
have called the extensive lawns which surrounded my paternal 
abode a park, but it never bore that name with us. They Avere 
too large for a paddock, and might very well have come under 
the former appellation ; but, as deer, or animals of any sort, 
except those that are domestic, had never been kept within it, 
the name had not been used. We called them the grounds — a 
terra which applies equally to large and small enclosures of this 
nature — while the broad expanse of verdure which lies directly 
under the windows goes by the name of the lawn. Notwith- 
standing the cheapness of land among us, there has been very 
little progress made in the art of landscape gardening ; and if 
we have any thing like park scenery, it is far more owing to the 
gifts of a bountiful nature than to any of the suggestions of art. 
Thanks to the cultivated taste of Downing, as well as to his 
well-directed labors, this reproach is likely to be soon removed, 
and country life will acquire this pleasure, among the manv 



184 T II E R E D S K I N S . 

others that are so peculiarly its own. After lying for more 
than twenty years — a stigma on the national taste — disfigured 
by ravines or gullies, and otherwise in a rude and discreditable 
condition, the grounds of the White House have been brought 
into a condition to denote that they are the property of a civil- 
ized country. The Americans are as apt at imitation as the 
Chinese, with a far greater disposition to admit of change ; 
and little beyond good models is required to set them on the right 
track. But it is certain that, as a nation, Ave have yet to ac- 
quire nearly all that belongs to the art I have mentioned that 
lies beyond avenues of trees, with an occasional tuft of shrub- 
bery. The abundance of the latter, that forms the -wilderness 
of sweets, the masses of flowers that spot the surface of Europe, 
the beauty of curved lines, and the whole finesse of surprises, 
reliefs, backgrounds and vistas, are things so little known among 
us as to be almost " arisdogratic," as my uncle Ro would call 
the word. 

Little else had been done at Ravensnest than to profit by the 
native growth of the trees, and to take advantage of the fiivor- 
able circumstances in the formation of the grounds. Most 
travellers imagine that it might be an easy thing to lay out a 
park in the virgin forest, as the axe might spare the thickets, 
and copses, and woods, that elsewhere are the fruits of time and 
planting. This is all a mistake, however, as the rule ; though 
modified exceptions may and do exist. The tree of the Amer- 
ican forest shoots upward toward the light, growing so tall and 
slender as to be unsightly ; and even when time has given its 
trunk a due size, the top is rarely of a breadth to ornament a 
park or a lawn, while its roots, seeking their nourishment m the 
rich alluvium formed by the decayed leaves of a thousand years, 
lie too near the surface to afford sufficient support after losing 
the shelter of its neighbors. It is owing to reasons like these 
that the ornamental grounds of an American country-house have 
usually to be commenced ab orifjine, and that natural causes so 
little aid in furnishing them. 

My predecessors had done a little toward assisting nature, 



T II E R E D S K I N S . 185 

at the Nest, and what was of almost equal importance, in the 
state of knowledge on this subject as it existed in the country 
sixty years since, they liad done little to mar her efibrts. The 
results were, that the grounds of Ravensnest possess a breadth 
that is the fruit of the breadth of our lands, and a rural beauty 
which, without being much aided by art, was still attractive 
The herbage was kept short by sheep, of which one thousand, 
of the fine wool, were feeding on the lawns, along the slopes, 
and particularly on the distant heights, as we crossed the 
grounds on our way to the doors. 

The Nest house was a respectable New York country dwel- 
ling, as such buildings were constructed among us in the last 
quarter of the past century, a little improved and enlarged by 
the second and third generations of its owners. The material 
was of stone, the low cliff on which it stood supplying enough 
of an excellent quality ; and the shape of the main corps de 
bathiient as near a square as might be. Each face of this part 
of the constructions offered five windows to view, this being 
almost the prescribed number for a country residence in that 
day, as three have since got to be in towns. These windows, 
however, had some size, the main building being just sixty feet 
square, which was about ten feet in each direction larger than 
was common so soon after the revolution. But wings had been 
added to the original building, and that on a plan which con- 
formed to the shape of a structure in square logs, that had 
been its predecessor on its immediate site. These wings were 
only of a story and a half each, and doubling on each side of 
the main edifice just far enough to form a sufficient communica- 
tion, they ran back to the very verge of a cliff some forty feet 
in height, overlooking, at their respective ends, a meandering 
rivulet, and a wide expanse of very productive flats, that annu- 
ally filled my barns with hay and my cribs with corn. Of this 
level and fertile bottom-land there was near a thousand acres, 
stretching in three directions, of which two hundred belonged 
to what was called the Nest farm. The remainder was divided 
among the fiirms of the adjacent tenantry. This little circum- 



180 T n E U E D S K I N S . 

stance, among tlic tliousand-anJ-ono other atrocities tliat 
were cliarged upon me, liad been made a ground of accusa- 
tion, to wliich I shall presently have occasion to advert. I 
shall do this the more readily, because the fact has not yet 
reached the ears and set in motion the tongues of legislators 
— heaven bless us, how words do getT corrupted by too much 
use ! — in their enumeration of the griefs of the tenants of the 
state. 

Every thing about the Nest was kept in perfect order, and 
m a condition to do credit to the energy and taste of my 
grandmother, who had ordered all these things for the last few 
years, or since the death of my grandfather. This circum- 
stance, connected with the fact that the building was larger and 
more costly than those of most of the other citizens of the 
country, had, of late years, caused Ravensnest to be termed an 
"aristocratic residence." This word "aristocratic," I find 
since my return home, has got to be a term of expansive signi- 
fication, its meaning depending on the particular habits and 
opinions of the person who happens to use it. Thus, he who 
chews tobacco thinks it aristocratic in him who deems the prac- 
tice nasty not to do the same ; the man who stoops accuses him 
Avho is straight in the back of having aristocratic shoulders ; 
and I have actually met with one individual who maintained 
that it was excessively aristocratic to pretend not to blow one's 
nose with his fingers. It will soon be aristocratic to maintain 
the truth of the familiar Latin axiom of '■^de gustibiis non dispu- 
tandum est^ 

As we approached the door of the Nest house, which opened 
on the piazza that stretched along three sides of the main build- 
ing, and the outer ends of both wings, the coachman was 
walking his horses away from it, on the road that led to the 
stables. The party of ladies had made a considerable circuit 
after quitting the farm, and had arrived but a minute before us. 
All the girls but Mary Warren had entered the house, careless 
on the subject of the approach of two peddlers ; she remained, 
however, at the side of my grandmother, to receive us. 



T II E R E D S K I N S . I 87 

"I believe in my soul," whispered uncle Ro, " tliat my dear 
old mother has a secret presentiment who Ave are, by her mani- 
festing so much respect. Tousand t'anks, matam, t'ousand 
t'anks," he continued, dropping into his half-accurate half- 
blundering broken English, " for dis great honor, such as we 
might not expect das laty of das house to wait for us at her 
door." 

*' This young lady tells me that she has seen you before, and 
that she understands you are both persons of education and 
good manners, who have been driven from your native country 
by political troubles. Such being the case, I cannot regard 
you as common peddlers. I have known what it was to be re- 
duced in fortune" — my dear grandmother's voice trembled a 
little — " and can feel for those who thus sufter." 

"Matam, dere might be moch trut' in some of dis," an- 
swered my uncle, taking off his cap, and bowing very much 
like a gentleman, an act in which I imitated him immediately. 
"We /m/seen petter tays ; und my son, dere, hast peen edicatet 
at an university. But we are now poor peddlers of vatches, 
und dem dat might make moosic in der streets." 

My grandmother looked as a lady would look under such cir- 
cumstances, neither too free to forget present appearances, nor 
coldly neglectful of the past. She knew that something was due 
to her own household, and to the example she ought to set it, 
while she felt that far more was due to the sentiment that unites 
the cultivated. We were asked into the house, were told a tabic 
was preparing for us, and were treated with a generous and 
considerate hospitality that involved no descent from hdr own 
character, or that of the sex ; the last being committed to the 
keeping of every lady. 

In the mean time, business proceeded with my uncle. He 
was paid his hundred dollars; and all his stores of value, in- 
cluding rings, brooches, earrings, chains, bracelets, and other 
trinkets that he had intended as presents to his Avards, were 
produced from his pockets, and laid before -tiic bright eyes of 
the three girls — Marj'^ Warren keeping in the background, as 



188 T II E R E D S K I N S . 

one who oiiglit not to look on tilings unsuitcJ to bcr fortune. 
Her filther liad arrived, however, had been consulted, and the 
pretty watch was already attached to the girdle of the prettier 
waist. I fancied the tear of gratitude that still floated in her 
serene eyes was a jewel of far higher price than any my uncle 
could exhibit. 

"VVe had been shown into the library, a room that was in the 
front of the house, and of which the windows all opened on the 
piazza. I was at first a little overcome, at thus finding myself, 
and unrecognized, under the paternal roof, and in a dwelling 
that was my own, after so many years of absence. Shall I con- 
fess it ! Every thing appeared diminutive and mean, after the 
buildings to which I had been accustomed in the old world. I 
am not now drawing comparisons with the palaces of princes, 
and the abodes of the great, as the American is apt to fancy, 
whenever any thing is named that is superior to the things to 
which he is accustomed ; but to the style, dwellings, and appli- 
ances of domestic life that pertain to those of other countries 
who have not a claim in any thing to be accounted my supe- 
riors — scarcely my equals. In a word, American aristocracy, or 
that which it is getting to be the fashion to stigmatize as aristo- 
cratic, would be deemed very democratic in most of the nations 
of Europe. Our Swiss brethren have their chateaux and their 
habits, that are a hundred times more aristocratic than any 
thing about Ravensnest, without giving offence to liberty ; and 
I feel persuaded, Avere the proudest establishment in all Amer- 
ica pointed out to a European as an aristocratic abode, he would 
be very apt to laugh at it, in his sleeve. The secret of this 
charge among ourselves is the innate dislike which is growing 
up in the country to see any man distinguished from the mass 
around him in any thing, even though it should be in merit. It 
is nothing but the expansion of the principle which gave rise to 
the traditionary feud between the "plebeians and patricians" 
of Albany, at the commencement of this century, and which 
has now descended so much fartlicr than was then contemplated 
by the soi-disant *' plebeians" of that day, as to become quite 



THE REDSKINS. 189 

disagreeable to their own descendants. But to return to my- 
self— 

I will own that, so far from finding any grounds of exultation 
in my own aristocratical splendor, when I came to view my 
possessions at home, I felt mortified and disappointed. The 
things that I had fancied really respectable, and even fine, from 
recollection, now appeared very commonplace, and in many 
particulars mean. " Really," I found myself saying, sotto voce, 
" all this is scarcely worthy of being the cause of deserting the 
right, setting sound principles at defiance, and of forgetting God 
and his commandments !" Perhaps I was too inexperienced to 
comprehend how capacious is the maw of the covetous man, 
and how microscopic the eye of envy. 

"You are welcome to Ravensnest," said Mr. Warren, ap- 
proaching and offering his hand in a friendly way, much as he 
would address any other young friend; "we arrived a little be- 
fore you, and I have had my ears and eyes open ever since, in 
the hope of hearing your flute, and of seeing your form in the 
highway, near the parsonage, where you promised to visit me." 

Mary was standing at her father's elbow, as when I first saw 
her, and she gazed wistfully at my flute, as she would not have 
done had she seen me in ray proper attire, assuming my proper 
character. 

" I danks you, sir," was my answer. " We might haf plenty 
of times for a little moosic, vhen das latics shall be pleaset to 
say so. I canst blay Yankee Doodle, Hail Coloombias, and 
der * Star Spangled Banner,' und all dem airs, as dey so moch 
likes at der taverns and on der road." 

Mr. Warren laughed, and he took the flute from my hand, 
and began to examine it. I now trembled for the incognito ! 
The instrument had been mine for many years, and was a very 
capital one, with silver keys, stops, and ornaments. What if 
Patt — what if my dear grandmother should recognize it! I 
would have given the handsomest trinket in my uncle's collec- 
tion to get the flute back again into my own hands; but, before 
an opportunity offered for that, it went from hand to han<l, as 



190 THE REDSKINS. 

the instrument that had produced the charming sounds heard 
that morning, until it reached those of Martha. The dear girl 
was thinking of the jewelry, which, it will he remembered, was 
rich, and intended in part for herself, and she passed the instru 
ment on, saying, hurriedly — 

"See, dear grandmother, this is the flute which you pro- 
nounced the sweetest-toned of any you had ever heard!" 

My grandmother took the flute, started, put her spectacles 
closer to her eyes, examined the instrument, and turned pale — 
for her cheeks still retained a little of the color of their youth 
— and then cast a glance hurriedly and anxiously at me. I could 
see that she was pondering on something profoundly in her 
most secret mind, for a minute or two. Luckily the others 
were too much occupied with the box of the peddler to heed 
her movements. She walked slowly out of the door, almost 
brushing me as she passed, and went into the hall. Here she 
turned, and, catching my eye, she signed for me to join her. 
Obeying this signal, I followed, until I was led into a little 
room, in one of the wings, that I well remembered as a sort of 
private parlor attached to my grandmother's own bedroom. 
To call it a boudoir would be to caricature things, its furniture 
being just that of the sort of room I have mentioned, or of a 
plain, neat, comfortable, country parlor. Here my grand- 
mother took her seat on a sofa, for she trembled so she could 
not stand, and then she turned to gaze at me wistfully, and with 
an anxiety it would be diflScult for me to describe. 

"Do not keep me in suspense !" she said, almost awfully in 
tone and manner, " am I right in my conjecture ?" 

"Dearest grandmother, you are !" I answered, in my natural 
voice. 

No more was needed : we hung on each other's necks, as had 
been my wont in boyhood. 

"But who is that peddler, Hugh?" demanded my grand- 
mother, after a time. " Can it possibly be Roger, my son?" 

" It is no other; we have come to visit you, incog." 

" And why this disguise ? — Ts it connected with the troubles ?"' 



TIIEKEDSKINS. 191 

" Certainly ; we have wislied to take a near view with our 
own eyes, and supposed it might be unwise to come openly, in 
our proper characters." 

" In this you have done well ; yet I hardly know how to 
welcome you, in your present characters. On no account must 
your real names be revealed. The demons of tar and feathers, 
the sons of liberty and equality, who illustrate their principles 
as they do their courage, by attacking the few with the many, 
would be stirring, fancying themselves heroes and martyrs in 
the cause of justice, did they learn you were here. Ten armed 
and resolute men might drive a hundred of them, I do believe ; 
for they have all the cowardice of thieves, but they are heroes 
with the unarmed and feeble. Are you safe, yourselves, ap- 
pearing thus disguised, under the new law ?" 

" We are not armed, not having so much as a pistol ; and 
that will protect us." 

" I am sorry to say, Hugh, that this country is no longer 
what I once knew it. Its justice, if not wholly departed, is 
taking to itself wings, and its blindness, not in a disregard of 
persons, but in a faculty of seeing only the stronger side. A 
landlord, in my opinion, would have but little hope, with jury, 
judge, or executive, for doing that which thousands of the 
tenants have done, still do, and will continue to do, with per- 
fect impunity, unless some dire catastrophe stimulate the public 
functionaries to their duties, by awakening public indigna- 
tion." 

" This is a miserable state of things, dearest grandmother ; 
and what makes it worse, is the cool indifference with which 
most persons regard it. A better illustration of the utter self- 
ishness of human nature cannot be given, than in the manner in 
Avhich the body of the people look on, and see wrong thus done 
to a few of their number." 

" Such persons as Mr. Seneca Newcome would answer, that 
the public sympathizes with the poor, who arc oppressed by the 
rich, because the last do not wish to let the first rob them of 
their estates ! Wc he;ir a great deal of the strong robbing 



192 THE REDSKINS. 

the weak, all over the world, but few among ourselves, 1 am 
afraid, are sufficiently clear-sighted to see how vivid an instance 
of the truth now exists among ourselves." 

" Calling the tenants the strong, and the landlords the weak ?" 

"Certainly; numbers make strength in this country, in which 
all power in practice, and most of it in theory, rests with the 
majority. Were there as many landlords as there are tenants, 
my life on it, no one would see the least injustice in the present 
state of things." 

" So says my uncle ; but I hear the light steps of the girls — 
we must be on our guard." 

At that instant Martha entered, followed by all three of the 
girls, holding in her hand a very beautiful Manilla chain that 
my uncle had picked up in his travels, and had purchased as a 
present to my future wife, whomsoever she might turn out to 
be, and which he had had the indiscretion to show to his 
ward. A look of surprise was cast by each girl in succession, 
as she entered the room, on me, but neither said, and I fancy 
neither thought much of my being shut up there with an old 
lady of eighty, after the first moment. Other thoughts were 
uppermost at the moment. 

"Look at this, dearest grandmamma!" cried Patt, holding 
up the chain as she entered the room. " Here is just the most 
exquisite chain that was ever wrought, and of the purest gold ; 
but the peddler refuses to part with it !" 

" Perhaps you do not offer enough, my child ; it is, indeed, 
very, very beautiful ; pray what does he say is its value ?" 

" One hundred dollars, he says ; and I can readily believe 
it, fcrr its weight is near half the money. I do wish Hugh were 
at home ; I am certain he would contrive to get it, and make it 
a present to me !" 

"Neiu, nein, young lady," put in the peddler, who, a little 
unceremoniously, had followed the girls into the room, though 
he knew, of course, precisely where he was coming; " dat 
might not be. Dat chain is dcr broperty of my son, t'ere, und 
I liaf sworn it slialt only be gifeu to his wife." 



T II K i; E U b K I N S. iO'ii 

Patt colored a little, and she pouted a good deal ; then ^hc 
laughed outright. 

"If it is only to he had on those conditions, 1 am afraid I 
shall never own it," she said, saucily, though it was intended 
to he uttered so low as not to reach my ears. "I will pay 
the hundred dollars out of my own pocket-money, however, 
if that will buy it. Do say a good word for me, grandmaiiv 
ma?" 

How prettily the hussy uttered that word of endearment, so 
different from the "paw" and "maw" one hears among the 
dirty-noses that are to be found in the mud-puddles ! But our 
grand-parent was puzzled, for she knew with whom she had to 
deal, and of course saw that money would do nothing. Never- 
theless, the state of the game rendered it necessary to say and 
do something that might have an appearance of complying with 
Patty's request. 

" Cau I have more success in persuading you to change your 
mind, sir?" she said, looking at her son in a way that let him 
know at once, or at least made him suspect at once, that she 
was in his secret. " It would give me great pleasure to be able 
to gratify my granddaughter, by making her a present of so 
beautiful a chain." 

My uncle Ro advanced to his mother, took the hand she had 
extended with the chain in it, in order the better to admire the 
trinket, and he kissed it with a profound respect, but in such a 
manner as to make it seem to the lookers-on an act of European 
usage, rather than what it was, the tempered salute of a child 
to his parent. 

"Laty," he then said, with emphasis, "if any boty might 
make me change a resolution long since made, it would be one 
as fencrable, und gracious, und goot as I am sartain you most 
be. But I haf vowet to gif dat chain to das wife of mine son, 
vhen he might marry, one day, some bretty young American ; 
und it might not be." 

Dear grandmother smiled ; but now she understood that it 
was really intended the chain was to be an offering to my wife, 




194 TIIEREDSKINS. 

she no longer wished to change its destination. She examined 
the bauble a few moments, and said to me — 

"Do you wish this, as well as your un — father, I should say? 
It is a rich present for a poor man to make." 

" Ja, ja, laty, it ist so; but vhen der heart goes, golt miglit 
be t' ought sheap to go wid it." 

The old lady was half ready to laugh in my face, at hearing 
this attempt at Germanic English ; but the kindness, and 
delight, and benevolent tenderness of her still fine eyes, made 
me wish to throw myself in her arms again, and kiss her. Patt 
continued to bonder for a moment or two longer, but her excel- 
lent nature soon gave in, and the smiles returned to her counte- 
nance, as the sun issues from behind a cloud in May. 

"Well, the disappointment may and must be borne," she 
said, good-naturedly ; "though it is much the most lovely chain 
I have ever seen." 

"I dare say the right person will one day find one quite as 
lovely to present to you !" said Henrietta Coldbrook, a little 
pointedly. 

I did not like this speech. It was an allusion that a well- 
bred young woman ought not to have made, at least before 
others, even peddlers ; and it was one that a young woman of a 
proper tone of feeling would not be apt to make. I determined 
from that instant the chain should never belong to Miss Hen- 
rietta, though she was a fine, showy girl, and though such a 
decision would disappoint my uncle sadly. I was a little sur- 
prised to see a slight blush on Patt's cheek, and then I remem- 
bered something of the name of the traveller, Beekman. Turn- 
ing toward Mary Warren, I saw plain enough that she was 
disappointed because my sister was disappointed, and for no 
other reason in the world. 

"Your grandmother will meet with another chain, when she 
goes to town, that will make you forget this," she whispered, 
affectionately, close at my sister's ear. 

Patt smiled, and kissed her friend with a warmth of manner 
that satisfied mc these two charming young creatures loved each 



THK REDSKINS. 195 

other sincerely. But my dear old grandmother's curiosity had 
been awakened, and she felt a necessity for having it appeased. 
She still held the chain, and as she returned it to me, who hap- 
pened to be nearest to her, she said — 

"And so, sir, your mind is sincerely made up to offer this 
chain to your future wife ?" 

"Yes, laty ; or what might be better, to das young frau, be- 
fore we might be marriet." 

" And is your choice made ?" glancing round at the girls, who 
were grouped together, looking at some other trinkets of my 
uncle's. " Have you chosen the young woman who is to pos- 
sess so handsome a chain ?" 

"Nein, nein," I answered, returning the smile, and glancing 
also at the group ; " dere ist so many peautiful laties in America, 
one needn't be in a hurry. In goot time I shalt find her dat ist 
intended for me." 

" Well, grandmamma," interrupted Patt, " since nobody can 
have the chain, unless on certain conditions, here are the three 
other things that we have chosen for Ann, Henrietta, and my- 
self, and they are a ring, a pair of bracelets and a pair of ear- 
rings. The cost, altogether, will be two hundred dollars ; can 
you approve of that?" 

My grandmother, now she knew who was the peddler, under^ 
stood the whole matter, and had no scruples. The bargain was 
soon made, when she sent us all out of the room, under the pre- 
tence we should disturb her while settling with the watch seller. 
Her real object, however, was to be alone with her son, not a 
dollar passing between them, of course. 



196 THE REDSKINS. 



CHAPTER XL 



" Our life was changed. Another lovo 
In this lone woof began to twine ; 
But oh 1 the golden thread was wove 
Between my sister's heart and mine." 

Willis. 



Half an liour later, uncle Ro and myself were seated at 
table, eating our dinners as quietly as if we were in an inn. 
The footman who had set the table was an old family servant, 
one who had performed the same sort of duty in that very 
house for a quarter of a century. Of course he was not an 
American, no man of American birth ever remained so long a 
time in an inferior station, or in any station so low as that of a 
house-servant. If he has good qualities enough to render it 
desirable to keep him, he is almost certain to go up in the 
world ; if not, one does not care particularly about having him. 
J5ut Europeans are less elastic and less ambitious, and it is no 
uncommon thing to find one of such an origin remaining a long 
time in the same service. Such had been the fact with this 
man, who had followed my own parents from Europe, when 
they returned from their marriage tour, and had been in the 
house on the occasion of my birth. From that time he had 
continued at the Nest, never marrying, nor ever manifesting the 
smallest wish for any change. He was an Englishman by 
birth ; and what is very unusual in a servant of that country, 
when transferred to America, the " letting-up," which is certain 
to attend such a change from the depression of the original 
condition to that in which he is so suddenly placed, had not 
made him saucy. An American is seldom what is called im- 
pudent, under any circumstances; ho is careless, nay ignorant 



THE REDSKINS. 19/ 

of forms ; pays little or no purely conventional respect ; does 
not understand half the social distinctions which, exist among 
the higher classes of even his own countrymen, and fancies 
there are equalities in things about which, in truth, there is 
great inequality between himself and others, merely because he 
has been taught that all men are equal in rights ; but he is so 
unconscious of any pressure as seldom to feel a disposition to 
revenge himself by impudence. 

But, while John was not impudent either, he had a footman's 
fee.ing toward those whom he fancied no better than himself. 
He had set the table with his customary neatness and method, 
and he served the soup with as much regularity as he would 
have done had we sat there in our proper characters, but then 
he withdrew. He probably remembered that the landlord, or 
upper servant of an English hotel, is apt to make his appear- 
ance with the soup, and to disappear as that disappears. So it 
was with John ; after removing the soup, he put a dumb-waiter 
near my uncle, touched a carving-knife or two, as much as to 
say "help yourselves," and quitted the room. As a matter of 
course, our dinner was not a very elaborate one, it wanting two 
or three hours to the regular time of dining, though my grand- 
mother had ordered, in my hearing, one or two delicacies to be 
placed on the table, that had surprised Patt. Among the ex- 
traordinary things for such guests was wine. The singularity, 
however, was a little explained by the quality commanded, 
which was Rhenish. 

My uncle Ro was a little surprised at the disappearance 
of John ; for, seated in that room, he was so accustomed to 
his face, that it appeared as if he were not half at home with- 
out him. 

" Let the fellow go," he said, withdrawing his hand from 
the bell-cord, which he had already touched to order him back 
again; "we can talk more freely without him. Well, Hugh, 
here you are, under your own roof, eating a charitable dinner, 
and treated as hospitably as if you did not own all you can see 
for a circle of five miles around you. It was a lucky idea of 



198 TUB REDSKINS. 

the old lady's, by the way, to think of ordering this Rudeshei- 
mer, in our character of Dutchmen ! How amazingly well she 
is looking, boy !" 

** Indeed she is ; and I am delighted to see it. I do not 
know why my grandmother may not live these twenty years ; 
for even that would not make her near as old as Sus, who, I 
have often heard her say, was a middle-aged man when she was 
born." 

" True ; she seems like an elder sister to me, rather than as 
a mother; and is altogether a most delightful old woman. 
But, if we had so charming an old woman to receive us, so 
are there also some very charming young women — hey, Hugh?" 

I am quite of your way of thinking, sir ; and must say I 
have not, in many a day, seen two as charming creatures as I 
have met with here." 

Two! — umph; a body would think one might suflBcc. Pray, 
which may be the two. Master Padishah ?" 

" Patt and Mary Warren, of course. The other two arc well 
enough, but these two are excellent." 

My uncle Ro looked grum, but he said nothing for some time. 
Eating is always an excuse for a broken conversation, and he 
ate away as if resolute not to betray his disappointment. But 
it is a hard matter for a gentleman to do nothing but eat at 
table, and so he was obliged to talk. 

"Every thing looks well here, after all, Hugh," observed my 
uncle. "These anti-renters may have done an infinite deal of 
harm in the way of abusing principles, but they do not seem to 
have yet destroyed any material things." 

" It is not their cue, sir. The crops are their own ; and as 
they hope to own the farms, it would be scarcely wise to injure 
what, no doubt, they begin to look on as their own property, 
too. As for the Nest house, grounds, farm, &c., I dare say 
ihey will be very willing to leave me them for a while longer, 
provided they can get every thing else away from me." 

" For a time longer, at least ; though that is the folly of those 
who expect to get along by concessions ; as if men were ever 



THE REDSKINS. 199 

satisfied with tlie yielding of a part, when they ask that >vhich 
is wrong in itself, without sooner or later expecting to get the 
whole. As well might one expect the pickpocket who had 
abstracted a dollar, to put back two-and-sixpence change. But 
things really look well, around the place." 

" So much the better for us. Though, to my judgment and 
taste, Miss Mary Warren looks better than any thing else I have 
yet seen in America," 

Another " umph" expressed my uncle's dissatisfaction — 
displeasure would be too strong a word — and he continued 
eating. 

" You have really some good Rhenish in your cellar, Hugh," 
resumed uncle Ro, after tossing off one of the knowing green 
glasses full — though I never could understand why any man 
should wish to drink his wine out of green, when he might do 
it out of crystal. "It must have been a purchase of mine, made 
when we were last in Germany, and for the use of my mother." 

"As you please, sir; it neither adds nor subtracts from the 
beauty of Martha and her friend." 

"Since you are disposed to make these boyish allusions, be 
frank with me, and say, at once, how you like my wards." 

"Meaning, of course, sir, my own sister exclusively. I will 
be as sincere as possible, and say that, as to Miss Marston, I 
have no opinion at all; and as to Miss Coldbrook, she is Avhat, 
in Europe, would be called a 'fine' woman." 

"You can say nothing as to her mind, Hugh, for you have 
had no opportunity for forming an opinion." 

"Not much of a one, I will own. Nevertheless, I should 
have liked her better had she spared the allusion to the ' prop- 
er person' who is one day to forge a chain for my sister, to 
begin with." 

"Poh, poh: that is the mere squeamishness of a boy. I do 
not think her in the least pert or forward, and your construction 
would be tant soil j)cu vulgar." 

"Put your own construction on it, vion onclc ; /do not like 
it." 



200 TIIEEEDSKINS. 

"I do not wonder young men remain unmarried; they aro 
getting to be so ultra in tlieir tastes and notions." 

A stranger might have retorted on an old bachelor, for such 
a speech, by some allusion to his own example ; but I well 
knew that my uncle Ro had once been engaged, and that he 
lost the object of his passion by death, and too much respected 
his constancy and trae sentiments ever to joke on such subjects. 
I believe he felt the delicacy of my forbearance rather more 
than common, for he immediately manifested a disposition to 
relent, and to prove it by changing the subject. 

"We can never stay here to-night," he said. "It would be 
at once to proclaim our names — our name, I might say — a name 
that was once so honored and beloved in this town, and which 
is now so hated!" 

"No, no; not as bad as that. We have done nothing to 
merit hatred." 

^^ liaison de 2^lus for hating us so much the more heartily. 
When men are wronged, who have done nothing to deserve it, 
the evil-doer seeks to justify his wickedness to himself by striv- 
ing all he can to calumniate the injured party ; and the more 
difficulty he finds in doing that to his mind, the more profound 
is his hatred. Rely on it, we are most sincerely disliked here 
on the spot where we were once both much beloved. Such is 
human nature." 

At that moment John returned to the room, to see how we 
were getting on, and to count his forks and spoons, for I saw 
the fellow actually doing it. My uncle, somewhat indiscreetly, 
I fancied, but by merely following the chain of thought then 
uppermost in his mind, detained him in conversation. 

" Dis broperty," he said, inquiringly, "is de broperty of one 
Ycneral Littlepagc, I hears say ?" 

" Not of the General, who was Madam Littlepagc' s husband, 
and who has long been dead, but of his grandson, Mr. Hugh." 

"Und vhere might he be, dis Mr. Hugh? — might he be at 
hand, or might he not ?" 

"No; he's in Europe ; that is to say, in Hcngland." John 



THE REDSKINS. 201 

thouglit England covered most of Europe, though ho had long 
gotten over his wish to return. " Mr. Hugh and Mr. Roger be 
both habsent from the country, just now." 

"Dat ist unfortunate, for dey dells me dere might be moch 
troobles here abouts, and Inj in-acting." 

" There is, indeed ; and a wicked thing it is, that there 
should be any thing of the sort." 

"Und vhat might be der reason of so moch troobles? — and 
vliere ist der blame ?" 

"Well, that is pretty plain, I fancy," returned John, who, in 
consequence of being a favored servant at head-quarters, fancied 
himself a sort of cabinet minister, and had much pleasure in 
letting his knowledge be seen. " The tenants on this estate 
wants to be landlords ; and as they can't be so, so long as Mr. 
Hugh lives and won't let 'em, why they just tries all sorts of 
schemes and plans to frighten people out of their property. I 
never go down to the village but I has a talk with some of them, 
and that in a way that might do them some good, if anything can." 

" Und vhat dost you say ? — und vid whom dost you talk, as 
might do dem moch goot ?" 

"Why, you see, I talks more with one 'Squire Newcome, as 
they calls him, though he's no more of a real 'squire than you 
be — only a sort of an attorney, like, such as they has in this 
country. You come from the old countries, I believe?" 

" Ja, ja — dat ist, yes — we comes from Charmany; so you can 
oay vhat you pleases." 

"They has queer 'squires in this part of the world, if truth 
must be said. But that's neither here nor there, though I give 
this Mr. Seneca Newcome as good as he sends. What is it 
you wants, I says to him ? — you can't all be landlords — some- 
body must be tenants ; and if you didn't want to be tenants, 
how come you to be so ? Land is plenty in this country, and 
cheap too ; and why didn't you buy your land at first, instead 
of coming to rent of Mr. Hugh ; and now when you have 
rented, to be quarrelling about the very thing you did of your 
own accord ?" 



202 THE K E D S K I N S . 

" Dcre you didst dell 'cm a goot t'ing; and vhat might dcr 
'squire say to dat?" 

"Oh! he was quite dumfounded, at first; then he said 
that in old times, when people first rented these lands, they 
didn't know as much as they do now, or they never would have 
done it." 

" Und you could answer dat ; or vast it your durn to be dum- 
founded ?" 

"I pitched it into him, as they says; I did. Says I, how's 
this, says I — you are forever boasting how much you Ameri- 
cans know — and how the people knows every thing that ought 
to be done, about politics and religion — and you proclaim far 
and near that your yeomen are the salt of the earth — and yet 
you don't know how to bargain for your leases ! A pretty sort 
of wisdom is this, says I ! I had him there ; for the people 
round about here is only too sharp at a trade." 

"Did he own that you vast right, and dat lie vast wrong, dis 
Herr 'Squire Newcome !" 

" Not he ; he will never own any thing that makes against 
his own doctrine, unless he does it ignorantly. But I haven't 
told you half of it. I told him, says I, how is it you talk of one 
of the Littlcpage fomily cheating you, when, as you knows 
yourselves, you had rather have the word of one of the family 
than have each other's bonds, says T. You know, sir, it must 
be a poor landlord that a tenant can't and won't take his word: 
and this they all know to be true ; for a gentleman as has a fine 
estate is raised above temptation, like, and has a pride in him 
to do what is honorable and fair ; and, in my opinion, it is 
good to have a few such people in a country, if it be only to 
keep the wicked one from getting it altogether in his own 
keeping." 

" Und did you say dat moch to der 'squire ?" 

" No ; that I just say to you two, seeing that we are here, 
talking together in a friendly way; but a man needn't be 
ashamed to say it anywhere, for it's a religious truth. But I 
says to him, Newcome, says I, you, who has been living so 



THE REDSKINS. 203 

long on the property of the Littlepages, ought to be ashamed 
to Avish to strip them of it ; but you're not satisfied with keep- 
ing gentlemen down quite as much out of sight as you can, by 
holding all the offices yourselves, and taking all the money of 
the public you can lay your hands on for your own use, but 
you wants to trample them under your feet, I says, and so take 
your revenge for being what you be, says I." 

"Veil, my friend," said my uncle, "you vast a bolt man to 
dell all dis to der beoples of dis coontry, vhere, I have heard, a 
man may say just vhat he^ hast a mind to say, so dat he df st 
not speak too moch trut !" 

'* That's it — that's it ; you have been a quick scholar, I find. 
I told this Mr. Newcome, says I, you're bold enough in railing 
at kings and nobles, for you very well know, says I, that they 
arc three thousand miles away from you, and can do you no 
harm ; but you would no more dare get up before your mas- 
ters, the people, here, and say what you really think about 
'em, and what I have heard you say of them in private, than 
you would dare put your head before a cannon, as the gunner 
touched it off. Oh ! I gave him a lesson, you may be sure 1" 

Although there was a good deal of the English footman in 
John's logic and feeling, there was also a good deal of truth in 
what he said. The part where he accused Newcome of holding 
one set of opinions in private, concerning his masters, and 
another in public, is true to the life. There is not, at this mo- 
ment, within the wide reach of the American borders, one 
demagogue to be found who might not, with justice, be accused 
of precisely the same deception. There is not one demagogue 
in the whole country, who, if he lived in a monarchy, would 
not be the humblest advocate of men in power, ready to kneel 
at the feet of those who stood in the sovereign's presence. 
There is not, at this instant, a man in power among us, a sena- 
tor or a legislator, who is now the seeming advocate of what he 
wishes to call the rights of the tenants, and who is for overlook- 
ing principles and destroying law and right, in order to pacify the 
anti-renters by extraordinary concessions, that would not be 



204 THE REDSKINS. 

among tlie foremost, under a monarchial system, to recommciul 
and support the freest application of the sword and the bayonet 
to suppress what would then he viewed, ay, and be termed, 
" the rapacious longings of the disaffected to enjoy the property 
of others without paying for it," All this is certain ; for it 
depends on a law of morals that is infallible. Any one who 
wishes to obtain a clear index to the true characters of the pub- 
lic men he is required to support, or oppose, has now the op- 
portunity ; for each stands before a mirror that reflects him in 
his just proportions, and in which the dullest eye has only to 
cast a glance, in order to view him from head to foot. 

The entrance of my grandmother put a stop to John's dis- 
course. He was sent out of the room on a message, and then 
I learned the object of this visit. My sister had been let into 
the secret of our true characters, and was dying to embrace 
me. My dear grandmother, rightl}'^ enough, had decided it 
would be to the last degree unkind to keep her in ignorance of 
our presence ; and, the fact known, nature had longings which 
must be appeased. I had myself been tempted twenty times, 
that morning, to snatch Patt to my heart and kiss her, as I used 
to do just after my beard began to grow, and she was so much of 
a <.'hild as to complain. The principal thing to be arranged, then, 
was to obtain an interview for me without awakening suspicion 
in the observers. My grandmother's plan was an-anged, how- 
ever, and she now communicated it to us. 

There was a neat little dressing-room annexed to Martha's 
bedroom ; in that the meeting was to take place. 

" She and Mary Warren are now there, waiting for your ap- 
pearance, Hugh " 

" Maiy Warren ! — Does she, then, know who I am ?" 

"Not in the least; she has no other idea than that you arc 
a young German, of good connections and well educated, who 
has been driven from his own country by political troubles, and 
who is reduced to turn his musical taste and acquisitions to ac- 
count, in the way you seem to do, until he can find some better 
employment. All this she had told us before we met you, and 



THE REDSKINS. 205 

you are not to be vain, Hugh, if I add, that your supposed mis- 
fortunes, and great skill with the flute, and good behavior, have 
made a friend of one of the best and most true-hearted girls I 
ever had the good fortune to know. I say good behavior, for 
little, just now, can be ascribed to good looks." 

'* I hope I ana not in the least revolting in appearance, in this 
disguise. For my sister's sake " 

The hearty laugh of my dear old grandmother brought me 
up, and I said no more ; coloring, I believe, a little, at my own 
folly. Even uncle Ro joined in the mirth, though I could sco 
he wished Mary Warren even safely translated along with her 
father, and that the latter was Archbishop of Canterbury. I 
must acknowledge that I felt a good deal ashamed of the weak- 
ness I had betrayed. 

"You are very well, Hugh, darling," continued my grand- 
mother ; " though I must think you would be more interesting 
iu your own hair, which is curling, than in that lank wig. Still, 
one can see enough of your face to recognize it, if one has the 
clue ; and I told ^Martha, at the first, that I was struck with 
a certain expression of the eyes and smile that reminded me of 
her brother. But, there they are, Mary and Martha, in the 
drawing-room, waiting for your appearance. The first is so 
fond of music, and, indeed, is so practised in it, as to have been 
delighted with your flute ; and she has talked so much of your 
skill as to justify us in seeming to wish for a further exhibition 
of your skill. Henrietta and Ann, having less taste that way, 
liave gone together to select bouquets, in the greenhouse, and 
there is now an excellent opportunity to gratify your sister. I 
am to draw Mary out of the room, after a little while, when you 
and Martha may say a word to each other in your proper char- 
acters. As for you, Roger, you are to open your box again, 
and I will answer for it that will serve to amuse your othei 
wards, should they return too soon from their visit to the gar- 
dener." 

Every thing being thus explained, and our dinner ended, all 
parties proceeded to the execution of the plan, each iu bio or 



206 THE REDSKINS. 

her designated mode. When my grandmother and I reached 
the dressing-room, however, Martha was not there, thougli 
Mary Warren was, her bright but serene eyes full of happiness 
and expectation. Martha had retired to the inner room for a 
moment, whither my grandmother, suspecting the truth, fol- 
lowed her. As I afterward ascertained, my sister, fearful of 
not being able to suppress her tears on my entrance, had with- 
drawn, in order to struggle for self-command without betraying 
our secret. I was told to commence an air, without waiting 
for the absent young lady, as the strain could easily be heard 
through the open door. 

I might have played ten minutes before my sister and grand- 
mother came out again. Both had been in tears, though the 
intense manner in which Mary Warren was occupied with the 
harmony of my flute, probably prevented her from observing 
it. To me, bowever, it was plain enough ; and glad was I to 
find that my sister had succeeded in commanding her feelings. 
In a minute or two my grandmother profited by a pause to rise 
and carry away with her Mary Warren, though the last left the 
room with a reluctance that was very manifest. The pretence 
was a promise to meet the divine in the library, on some busi- 
ness connected with the Sunday-schools. 

"You can keep the young man for another air, Martha," ob- 
served my grandmother, " and I will send Jane to you, as I pass 
her room." 

Jane was my sister's oAvn maid, and her room was close at 
hand, and I dare say dear grandmother gave her the order, in 
Mary Warren's presence, as soon as she quitted the room, else 
might Mary Warren well be surprised at the singularity of the 
whole procedure ; but Jane did not make her appearance, 
nevertheless. As for myself, I continued to play as long as I 
thought any ear was near enough to hear me ; then I laid aside 
ray flute. In the next instant Patt was in my arms, where she 
lay some time weeping, but looking inexpressibly happy. 

" Oh ! Hugh, what a disguise Avas this to visit your own 
house in !" she said, as soon as composed enough to speak. 



THE REDSKINS. 207 

" Would it liave done to come here otherwise ? You know 
the state of the country, and the precious fruits our boasted tree 
of liberty is bringing forth. The owner of the land can only 
visit his property at the risk of his life !" 

Martha pressed me in her arms in a way to show how con- 
scious she was of the danger I incurred in even thus visiting 
her ; after which we seated ourselves, side by side, on a little 
divan, and began to speak of those things that were most nat- 
ural to a brother and sister who so much loved each other, and 
who had not met for five years. My grandmother had managed 
so well as to prevent all interruption for an hour, if we saw fit 
to remain together, while to others it should seem as if Patt had 
dismissed me in a few minutes. 

" Not one of the other girls suspect, in the least, who you 
are," said Martha, smiling, when we had got through with 
the questions and answers so natural to our situation. "I 
am surprised that Henrietta has not, for she prides herself on 
her penetration. She is as much in the dark as the others, 
however." 

"And Miss Mary Warren — the young lady who has just left 
the room — ^has she not some small notion that I am not a com- 
mon Dutch music-grinder ?" 

Patt laughed, and that so merrily as to cause the tones of 
her sweet voice to fill me with delight, as I remembered what 
she had been in childhood and girlhood five years before, 
and she shook her bright tresses off her cheeks ere she would 
answer. 

"No, Hugh," she replied, "she fancies you an uncommon 
Dutch music-grinder; an artiste that not only grinds, but 
who dresses up his harmonies in such a way as to be palatable 
to the most refined taste. How came Mary to think you and 
my uncle two reduced German gentlemen ?" 

" And does the dear girl believe — that is, docs Miss Mary 
Warren do us so much honor, as to imagine that?" 

" Indeed she does, for she told us as much as soon as she 
got home ; and Henrietta and Ann have made themselves very 



208 THE REDSKINS. 

merry with their speculations on the suliject of Miss Warren's 
great incognito. They call you Herzog von Geige." 

"Thank them for that." I am afraid I answered a little too 
pointedly, for I saw that Patt seemed surprised. " But your 
American towns are just such half-way things as to spoil young 
women; making them neither refined and polished as they 
might be in real capitals, while they are not left the simplicity 
and nature of the country." 

" Well, Master Hugh, this is being very cross about a very 
little, and not particularly complimentary to your own sister. 
And why not your American towns, as well as ours ? — are you 
no longer one of us ?" 

"Certainly; one of yours, always, my dearest Patt, though 
not one of every chattering girl who may set up for a belle, 
with her Dukes of Fiddle ! But, enough of this ; — you like the 
Warrens ?" 

"Very much so ; father and daughter. The first is just what 
a clergyman should be ; of a cultivation and intelligence to fit 
him to be any man's companion, and a simplicity like that of a 
child. You remember his predecessor — so dissatisfied, so self- 
ish, so lazy, so censorious, so unjust to every person and thing 
around him, and yet so exacting ; and, at the same time, 
so " 

"What? Thus far you have drawn his character well; I 
should like to hear the remainder." 

" I have said more than I ought already ; for one has an idea 
that, by bringing a clergyman into disrepute, it brings religion 
and the church into discredit, too. A priest must be a very 
bad man to have injurious things said of him, in this country, 
Hugh." 

" That is, perhaps, true. But you like Mr. Warren better 
than him who has left you?" 

" A thousand times, and in all things. In addition to having 
a most pious and sincere pastor, loe have an agreeable and well- 
bred neighbor, from whose moi;th, in the five years that he 
h:is dwelt here, I have not heard a syllable at the expense of a 



THE REDSKINS. 20*J 

single fellow-creature. You know Low it is apt to be witli 
the other clergy and ours, in the country — forever at swords' 
points ; and if not actually quarrelling, keeping up a hollow 
peace." 

"That is only too true — or used to be true, before I went 
abroad. " 

"And it is so now elsewhere, I'll answer for it, though it be 
so no longer here. Mr. Warren and Mr. Peck seem to live on 
perfectly amicable terms, though as little alike at bottom as fire 
and water." 

"By the way, how do the clergy of the different sects, up 
and down the country, behave on the subject of anti-rent ?" 

"I can answer only from what I hear, with the exception of 
Mr. Warrren's course. He has preached two or three plain 
and severe sermons on the duty of honesty in our worldly trans- 
actions, one of which was from the tenth commandment. Of 
course he said nothing of the particular trouble, but every body 
must have made the necessary application of the home-truths 
he uttered. I question if another voice has been raised, far and 
near, on the subject, although I have heard Mr. AVarren say the 
movement threatens more to demoralize New York than any 
thing that has happened in his time." 

"And the man down at the village?" 

" Oh, he goes, of course, with the majority. When was one 
of that set known to oppose his parish, in any thing?" 

"And Mary is as sound and as high-principled as her father?" 

" Quite so ; though there has been a good deal said about 
the necessity of Mr. Warren's removing, and giving up St. 
Andrew's, since he preached against covetousness. All the anti- 
renters say, I hear, that they know he meant them, and that 
they won't put up with it." 

" I dare say ; each one fancying he was almost called out by 
name ; that is the way, when conscience works." 

" I should be very, very sorry to part with Mary ; and almost 
as much so to part with her father. There is one thing, how- 
ever, that Mr. AVarren himself thinks we had better have done, 



210 THE REDSKINS. 

Hugh ; and that is to take down the canopy from over our pew. 
You can have no notion of the noise that foolish canopy is 
mating up and down the country." 

" I shall not take it down. It is my property, and there it 
shall remain. As for the canopy, it was a wrong distinction 
to place in a church, I am willing to allow ; but it never gave 
offence until it has been thought that a cry against it would 
help to rob me of my lands at half-price, or at no price at all, 
as it may happen." 

*' All that may be true; but if improper for a church, why 
keep it ?" 

*' Because I do not choose to be bullied out of what is my 
own, even though I care nothing about it. There might have 
been a time when the canopy was unsuited to the house of 
God, and that was when those who saw it might fancy it cano- 
pied the head of a fellow-creature who had higher claims than 
themselves to divine favor ; but, in times like these, when men 
estimate merit by beginning at the other end of the social 
scale, there is little danger of any one's falling into the mis- 
take. The canopy shall stand, little as I care about it ; now, I 
would actually prefer it should come down, and I can fully see 
the impropriety of making any distinctions in the temple ; but 
it shall stand until concessions cease to be dangerous. It is a 
right of property, and as such I will maintain it. If others dis- 
like it, let them put canopies over their pews, too. The best 
test, in such a matter, is to see who could bear it. A pretty 
figure Seneca Newcome would cut, for instance, seated in a can- 
opied pew ! Even his own set would laugh at him, which, I 
fancy, is more than they yet do at me." 

Martha Avas disappointed ; but she changed the subject. We 
next talked of our own little private affairs, as they were con- 
nected with smaller matters. 

" For whom is that beautiful chain intended, Hugh ?" asked 
Patt, laughingly. *' I can now believe the peddler when he 
says it is reserved for your future wife. But who is that wife to 
be ? Will her name be Henrietta or Ann V 



Til E HE U S K I N S. 211 

"Wliy not ask, also, if it will be Mary? — why exclude ono 
of your companions, while you include the other two ?" 

Patt started — seemed surprised ; her cheeks flushed, and then 
I saw that pleasure was the feeling predominant. 

" Am I too late to secure that jewel, as a pendant to my 
chain ?" I asked, half in jest, half seriously. 

" Too soon, at least, to attract it by the richness and beauty 
of the bauble. A more natural and disinterested girl than Mary 
Warren does not exist in the country." 

" Be frank with me, Martha, and say at once ; has she a 
favored suitor?" 

"Why, this seems really serious!" exclaimed my sister, 
laughing. " But, to put you out of your pain, I will answer, I 
know of but one. One she has certainly, or female sagacity is 
at fault." 

" But is he one that is favored ? You can never know how 
much depends on your answer." 

"Of that you can judge for yourself. It is 'Squire Sen- 
eky Newcome, as he is called hereabouts — the brother of the 
charming Opportunity, who still reserves herself for you." 

" And they are as rank anti-renters as any male and female 
in the country." 

" They are rank Newcomites ; and that means that each is for 
himself. Would you believe it, but Opportunity really gives 
herself airs with Mary Warren !" 

" And how does Mary Warren take such an assumption ?" 

" As a young person should — quietly and without manifest- 
ing any feeling. But there is something quite intolerable in 
one like Opportunity Newcorac's assuming a superiority over 
any true lady ! Mary is as well educated and as well connected 
as any of us, and is quite as much accustomed to good com- 
pany ; while Opportunity — " here Patt laughed, and then added, 
hurriedly, " but you know Opportunity as well as I do." 

**0h! yes; she is la vertue, or the virtue, and je suis venue 
pour." 

The hitter allusion Patt understood well enough, liaving 



212 THE REDSKINS. 

laughed over the story a dozen times; and she hiuglied again 
when I explained the aflfair of " the solitude." 

Then came a fit of sisterly feeling. Patt insisted on taking 
off my "wig, and seeing my face in its natural dress. I con- 
sented to gratify her, when the girl really behaved like a sim- 
pleton. First she pushed about my curls until they were 
aiTanged to suit the silly creature, when she ran back several 
steps, clapped her hands in delight, then rushed into " my arms 
and kissed my forehead and eyes, and called me her brother" 
— her " only brother" — her " dear, dear Hugh," and by a 
number of other such epithets, until she worked herself, and 
me too, into such an excess of feeling that we sat down, side by 
side, and each had a hearty fit of crying. Perhaps some such 
burst as this was necessary to relieve our minds, and we sub- 
mitted to it wisely. 

My sister wept the longest, as a matter of course ; but, as 
soon as she had dried her eyes, she replaced the wig, and com- 
pletely restored my disguise, trembling the whole time lest 
some one might enter and detect me. 

"You have been very imprudent, Hugh, in «oming here at 
all," she said, while thus busy. *' You can form no notion of 
the miserable state of the country, or how far the anti-rent 
poison has extended, or the malignant nature of its feeling. The 
annoyances they have attempted with dear grandmother are 
odious ; you they would scarcely leave alive." 

"The country and the people must have strangely altered, 
then, in five years. Our New York population has hitherto 
had very little of the assassin-like character. Tar and feathers 
are the blackguards', and have been the petty tyrants' wea- 
pons, from time immemorial, in this country; but not the 
knife." 

"And can any thing sooner or more effectually alter a people 
than longings for the property of others? Is not the 'love of 
money the root of all evil?' — and what right have we to sup- 
pose our Ravensnest population is better than another, Avhen 
that sordid fecjing is thoroughly aroused? You know you luivc 



THE REDSKINS. 213 

written mc yourself, that all the American can or does live for 
is money." 

"I have written you, dear, that the country, in its present 
condition, leaves no other incentive to exertion, and therein it is 
cursed. Military fame, military rank, even, are unattainable, 
under our system : the arts, letters and science, bring little or 
no reward; and there being no political rank that a man 
of refinement would care for, men must live for money, or live 
altogether for another state of being. But I have told you, 
at the same time, Martha, that, notwithstanding all this, I 
believe the American a less mercenary being, in the ordinary 
sense of the word, than the European ; that two men might be 
bought, for instance, in any European country, for one here. 
This last I suppose to be the result of the facility of making a 
living, and the habits it produces." 

"Nevermind causes; Mr. "Warren says there is a desperate 
intention to rob existing among these people, and that they are 
dangerous. As yet they do a little respect women, but how 
long they will do that one cannot know." 

"It may all be so. It must be so, respecting what I have 
heard and read; yet this vale looks as smiling and as sweet, at 
this very moment, as if an evil passion never sullied it ! But 
depend on my prudence, which tells me that we ought now to 
part. I shall see you again and again before I quit the estate, 
and you will, of course, join us somewhere — at the Springs, per- 
haps — as soon as we find it necessary or expedient to decamp." 

Mailha promised this, of course, and I kissed her, previously 
to separating. No one crossed my way as I descended to the " 
piazza, which was easily done, since I was literally at home. I 
lounged about on the lawn a few minutes, and then, showing 
myself in front of the library windows, I was summoned to the 
room, as I had expected. 

Uncle Ro had disposed of every article of the fine jewelry 
that he had brought home as presents for his Avards. The pay 
was a matter to be arranged with Mrs. Littlepage, which meant 
no pay at all ; and, as the donor afterward told mc, he liked 



214 THE REDSKINS, 

this mode of distributing tlie various ornaments better than 
presenting them himself, as he was now certain each girl had 
consulted her own fancy. 

As the hour of the regular dinner was approaching, we took 
our leave soon after, not without receiving kind and pressing 
invitations to visit the Nest again ere we left the township. Of 
course we promised all that was required, intending most faith- 
fully to comply. On quitting the house we returned toward 
the farm, though not without pausing on the lawn to gaze 
around us on a scene so dear to both, from recollection, associa- 
tion and interest. But I forget, this is aristocratical ; the land- 
lord has no right to sentiments of this nature, which are feelings 
that the sublimated liberty of the law is beginning to hold in 
reserve solely for the benefit of the Icnfint ! 



THE REDSKINS. 216 



CHAPTER XII. 

"There sliall be, in England, seven half penny loaves sold for a penny; the tUree- 
hooped pot shall have ten hoops ; and I will make it felony to drink small beer : all 
the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapsido shall my palfrey go to grass." 

Jack Cade. 

"I DO not see, sir," I remarked, as we moved on from the 
last of these pauses, " why the governors and the legislators, 
and writers on this subject of anti-rentism, talk so much of 
feudality, and chickens, and days' works, and durable leases, 
when we have none of these, while we have all the disaffection 
they are said to produce." 

" You will understand that better as you come to know more 
of men. No party alludes to its weak points. It is just as you 
say ; but the proceedings of your tenants, for instance, give the 
lie to the theories of the philanthropists, and must be kept in 
the background. It is true that the disaffection has not yet 
extended to one-half, or to one-fourth of the leased estates in 
the country, perhaps not to one-tenth, if you take the number 
of the landlords as the standard, instead of the extent of their 
possessions, but it certainly will^ should the authorities tamper 
with the rebels much longer." 

" If they tax the incomes of the landlords under the durable 
rent system, why would not the parties aggrieved have the same 
right to take up arms to resist such an act of oppression as our 
fathers had, in 1776?" 

" Their cause would be better ; for that was only a construc- 
tive right, and one dependent on general principles, whereas 
this is an attempt at a most mean evasion of a written law, the 
meanness of the attempt being quite as culpable as its fraud. 
Every human being knows that such a tax, so far as it has any 
object beyond that of an election-sop, is to choke off the land- 



216 THE UED SKINS. 

lords from the maintenance of their covenants, which is a thing 
that no state can do directly, without running the risk of having 
its law pronounced unconstitutional by the courts of the United 
States, if, indeed, not by its own courts." 

"The Court of Errors, think you ?" 

" The Court of Errors is doomed, by its own abuses. Cati- 
line never abused the patience of Rome more than that mongrel 
assembly has abused the patience of every sound lawyer in the 
state. ' Fiat justiiia, mat codum^ is interpreted, now, into 
'Let justice be done, and the court fall.' No one wishes to 
see it continued, and the approaching convention will send it 
to the Capulets, if it do nothing else to be comm^ded. It 
was a pitiful imitation of the House of Lords system, with this 
striking difference ; the English lords are men of education, 
and men with a vast deal at stake, and their knowledge and in- 
terests teach them to leave the settlement of appeals to the legal 
men of their body, of whom there are always a respectable 
number, in addition to those in possession of the woolsack and 
the bench ; whereas our Senate is a court composed of small 
lawyers, country doctors, merchants, farmers, with occasionally 
a man of really liberal attainments. Under the direction of an 
acute and honest judge, as most of our true judges actually are, 
the Court of Errors would hardly form such a jury as would 
allow a creditable person to be tried by his peers, in a case 
affecting character, for instance, and here we have it set up as a 
court of the last resort, to settle points of law !" 

" I see it has just made a decision in a libel suit, at which the 
profession sneers." 

" It has, indeed. Now look at that very decision, for in- 
stance, as the measure of its knowledge. An edito: of a news- 
paper holds up a literary man to the world as one anxious to 
obtain a small sunr of money, in order to put it into Wall 
street, for ' shaving purposes.' Now, the only material ques- 
tion raised was the true signification of the word ' shaving. ' 
If to say a man is a ' shaver,' in the sense in which it is applied 
to the use of money, he bringing him into discredit, then Avaa 



THE REDSKINS. 217 

the plaintiff's declaration suflBcient ; if not, it was insufficient, 
being wanting in what is called an 'innuendo.' The dictiona- 
ries, and men in general, understand by * shaving,' * extortion,' 
and nothing else. To call a man a * shaver' is to say he is an 
* extortioner,' without going into details. But, in "Wall street, 
and among money-dealers, certain transactions that, in their 
eyes, and by the courts, are not deemed discreditable, have of 
late been brought within the category of ' shaving.' Thus it is 
technically, or by convention among bankers, termed * shaving' 
if a man buy a note at less than its face, which is a legal ti-ans- 
action. On the strength of this last circumstance, as zs set forth 
in the published opinions, the highest Court of Appeals in New 
York has decided that it does not bring a man into discredit to 
say he is a * shaver !' — thus making a conventional signification 
of the brokers of Wall street higher authority for the . use of 
the English tongue than the standard lexicographers, and all 
the rest of those who use the language ! On the same princi- 
ple, if a set of pickpockets, at the Five Points, should choose 
to mystify their trade a little by including in the term * to 
filch' the literal borroioing of a pocket-handkerchief, it would 
not be a libel to accuse a citizen of ' filching his neighbor's 
handkerchief!'" 

" But the libel was uttered to the %uorld, and not to the 
brokers of Wall street only, Avho might possibly understand 
their own terms." 

" Very true ; and Avas uttered in a newspaper that carried 
the falsehood to Europe ; for the writer of the charge, when 
brought up for it, publicly admitted that he had no ground for 
suspecting the literary man of any such practices. He called it 
a '■joke.^ Every line of the context, however, showed it was a 
malicious charge. The decision is very much as if a man who 
is sued for accusing another of ' stealing' should set up a de- 
fence that he meant ' stealing' hearts, for the word is sometimes 
used in that sense. When men use epithets that convey dis- 
credit in their general meaning, it is their business to give them 
a special signification in their own contexts, if such be their 
10 



218 T H E K E D S K I N S . 

real intention. But I much question if there be a respectable 
money-dealer, even in Wall street, who would not swear, if 
called on in a court of justice so to do, that he thought the 
general charge of ' shaving' discreditable to any man." 

"And you think the landlords whose rents were taxed, sir, 
would have a moral right to resist ?" 

"Beyond all question; as it Avould be an income-tax on them 
only, of all in the country. What is more, I am fully persuaded 
that two thousand men embodied to resist such tyranny would 
look down the whole available authority of the state ; inasmuch 
as I do not believe citizens could be found to take up arms to 
enforce a law so flagrantly unjust. Men will look on passively 
and sec wrongs inflicted, that would never come out to support 
them by their own acts. But we are approaching the form, 
and there are Tom Miller and his hired men waiting our ar- 
rival." 

It is unnecessary to repeat, in detail, all that passed in this 
our second visit to the farm-house. Miller received us in a 
friendly manner, and offered us a bed, if we would pass the 
night with him. This business of a bed had given us more 
difficulty than any thing else, in the course of our peregrina- 
tions. New York has long got over the "two-man" and 
" three-man bed" system, as regards its best inns. At no re- 
spectable New York inn is a gentleman now asked to share even 
his room, without an apology and a special necessity, with 
another, much less his bed ; but the rule does not hold good 
as respects peddlers and music-grinders. We had ascertained 
that we were not only expected to share the same bed, but to 
occupy that bed in a room filled with other beds. There are 
certain things that get to be second nature, and that no mas- 
querading will cause to go down ; and, among others, one gets 
to dislike sharing his room and his tooth-brush. This little 
difficulty gave us more trouble that night, at Tom Miller's, than 
any thing we had yet encountered. At the taverns, bribes had 
answered our purpose ; but this would not do so well at a farm 
residence. At length the matter was got along with by putting 



THE REDSKINS. 219 

luc in tlie garret, where I was favored witli a straw bed under 
my own roof, the decent Mrs. Miller making many apologies 
for not having a feather-smootherer, in which to " squash" me. 
I did not tell the good woman that I never used feathers, sum- 
mer or winter ; for, had I done so, she would have set me down 
as a poor creature from "oppressed" Germany, where the 
" folks" did not know how to live. Nor would she have been 
so much out of the way quoad the beds, for in all my 
journeyings I never met with such uncomfortable sleeping as 
one finds in Germany, off the Rhine and out of the large 
towns.* 

While the negotiation was in progress I observed that Josh 
Brigham, as the anti-rent disposed hireling of Miller's was 
called, kept a watchful eye and an open ear on what was done 
and said. Of all men on earth, the American of that class is 
the most "distrustful," as he calls it himself, and has his sus- 
picions the soonest awakened. The Indian on the war-path — 
the sentinel who is posted in a fog, near his enemy, an hour 
before the dawn of day — the husband that is jealous, or the 
priest that has become a partisan, is not a whit more apt to 
fancy, conjecture, or assert, than the American of that class who 
has become *' distrustful." This fellow, Brigham, was the very 
heati ideal of the suspicious school, being envious and malig- 
nant, as well as shrewd, observant, and covetous. The very 
fact that he was connected with the " Injins," as turned out to 
be the case, added to his natural propensities the consciousness 
of guilt, and rendered him doubly dangerous. The whole time 
my uncle and myself were crossing over and figuring in, in or- 
der to procure for each a room, though it were only a closet, 
his watchful, distrustful looks denoted how much he saw in our 
movements to awaken curiosity, if not downright suspicion. 
When all was over, he followed me to the little laAvn in front 
of the house, whither I had gone to look at the familiar scene 

* As the "honorable gentleman from Albany" docs not seem to umlcrstaml tlio 
procise s'.frnilication of "provincial," I can tell him that one sign of such a cliarocter 
U to aluiiic a bed at an Ainciican coiintry inn. — Euitor. 



220 THE KEDSKINS. 

by the light of tlie setting sun, and began to betray the nature 
of his own suspicions by his language. 

"The old man" (meaning my uncle Ro) "must have plenty 
of gold watches about him," he said, "to be so plaguy partic- 
'lar consarniu' his bed. Peddlin' sich matters is a ticklish trade, 
I guess, in some parts ?" 

"Ja; it ist dangerous somevhere, but it might not be so in 
dis goot coontry." 

"Why did the old fellow, then, try so hard to get that little 
rooju all to himself, and shove you off into the garret? We 
hired men don't like the garret, which is a hot place in sum- 
mer." 

"In Charraany one man hast ever one bed," I answered, 
anxious to get rid of the subject. 

I bounced a little, as "one has one-half of a bed" would be 
nearer to the truth, though the other half might be in another 
room. 

"Oh! that's it, is't? Wa-a-1, every country has its ways, I 
s'pose. Jarmany is a desp'ate aristocratic land, I take it." 

"Ja; dere ist moch of de old feudal law, and feudal coostum 
still remaining in Charmany." 

"Landlords a plenty, I guess, if the truth was known. 
Leases as long as my arm, I calkerlate ?" 

"Veil, dey do dink, in Charmany, dat de longer might be 
de lease, de better it might be for de denant." 

As that was purely a German sentiment, or at least not an 
American sentiment, according to the notions broached by 
statesmen among ourselves, I made it as Dutch as possible by 
garnishing it well with d's. 

"That's a droll idee 1 Now, we think, here, that a lease is 
a bad thing; and the less you have of a bad thing, the better." 

"Veil, dat ist queer, so queer as I don't know! Vhat vill 
dey do as might help it?" 

"Oh! the legislature will set it all right. They mean to 
pass a law to prevent any more leases at all." 

"XJnd vill de bcople stand dat? Dis ist a free coontry. 



THE FvKDSKINS. 221 

eflFcry body dells me, and vilt dcr beoples agree not to hire 
lands if dey vants to ?" 

" Oh ! you see we wish to choke the landlords off from their 
present leases; and, by and by, when that is done, the law 
can let up again." 

"But ist dat right ? Der law should be joost, und not hold 
down und let oop, as you calls it." 

"You don't understand us yet, I see. Why that's the pret- 
tiest and the neatest legislation on airth ! That's just what the 
bankrupt law did." 

" Vhat did her bankroopt law do, bray ? Vhat might you 
mean now ? — I don't know." 

" Do ! why it did wonders for some on us, I can tell you ! 
It paid our debts, and let us up when we was down ; and that's 
no trifle, I can tell you. I took ' the benefit,' as it is called, 
myself." 

"You! — you might take der benefit of a bankroopt law! 
You, lifing here ast a hiret man, on dis farm !" 

"Sartain; why not? All a man wanted under that law 
was about $60 to carry him through the mill ; and if he could 
rake and scrape that much together, he might wipe off as long 
a score as he pleased. I had been dealin' in speckylation, and 
that's a make or break business, I can tell you. Well, I got 
to be about $423.22 wuss than nothin' ; but, having about $90 
in hand, I went through the mill without getting cogged the 
smallest morsel ! A man doos a good business, to my notion, 
when he can make twenty cents pay a whuU dollar of debt." 

" Und you did dat goot business?" 

" You may say that ; and now I means to make anti-rcntism 
get me a farm cheap — what / call cheap ; and that an't none 
of your $30 or $40 an acre, I can tell you !" 

It was quite clear that Mr. Joshua Brigham regarded these 
transactions as so many Pragmatic Sanctions, that were to clear 
the moral and legal atmospheres of any atoms of difficulty that 
might exist in the forms of old opinions, to his getting easily 
out of debt, in the one case, and suddenly rich in the other. I 



222 THE REDSKINS 

dare say I looked bewildered, but I certainly folt so, at thus 
finding myself face to face "witli a low knave, who had a delib- 
erate intention, as I now found, to rob me of a farm. It is cer- 
tain that Joshua so imagined, for, inviting me to walk down the 
road with him a short distance, he endeavored to clear up any 
moral difficulties that might beset me, by pursuing the subject. 

"You see," resumed Joshua, "I will tell you how it is. 
These Littlepages have had this land long enough, and it's time 
to give poor folks a chance. The young spark that pretends to 
own all the farms you see, far and near, never did any thing for 
'em in his life ; only to be his father's son. Now, to my no- 
tion, a man should do suthin' for his land, and not be obligated 
for it to mere natur'. This is a free country, and what right 
has one man to land more than another?" 

'• Or do his shirt or do his dobacco, or do his coat, or do 
any ding else." 

" Well, I don't go as far as that. A man has a right to his 
clothes, and maybe to a horse or a cow, but he has no right 
to all the land in creation. The law crives a riffht to a cow as 
ag'in' execution." 

"TJnd doesn't der law gif a right to der landt, too ? You 
most not depend on der law, if you might succeed." 

*' We like to get as much law as we can on our side. Ameri- 
cans like law : now, you'll read in all the books — our books, I 
mean, them that's printed here — that the Americans be the 
most lawful people on airth, and that they'll do mofe for the 
law than any other folks known !" 

" Veil, dat isn't vhat dey says of der Americans in Europe ; 
nein, nein, dey might not say dat." 

" Why, don't you think it is so ? Don't you think this the 
greatest country on airth, and the most lawful ?" 

" Veil, I don'ts know. Das coontry ist das coontry, und it 
ist vhat it ist, you might see." 

" Yes ; I thought you would be of my way of thinking, when 
we got to understand each other." Nothing is easier than to 
mislead an American on the estimate foreigners place on them : 



THE REDSKINS. 223 

in this respect they arc tlic most deluded people living, though, 
in other matters, certainly among the shrewdest. " That's the 
way with acquaintances, at first; they don't always understand 
one another : and then you talk a little thick, like. But now, 
friend, I'll come tothep'int — but first swear you'Unot betray me." 

" Ja, ja — I oonderstandst ; I most schwear I won't bedray 
you : das ist goot." 

" But, hold up your hand. Stop ; of what religion be you ?" 

" Gristian, to be sure. I might not be a Chew. Nein, nein ; 
I am a ferry vat Gristian." 

" We are all bad enough, for that matter; but I lay no stress 
on that. A little of the devil in a man helps him along, in 
this business of ourn. But you must be suthin' more than a 
Christian, I s'pose, as we don't call that bein' of any religion at 
all, in this country. Of what supporting religion be you ?" 

"Soobortin'; veil, I might not oonderstands dat. Vhat is 
soobortin' religion ? Coomes dat vrom Melanchton und Luther ? 
— or coomes it ^Tom der Pope ? Vhat ist dat soobortin' relig- 
ion ?" 

"Why, what religion do you patronize? Do you patronize 
the standin' order, or the kneelin' order ? — or do you patronize 
neither ? Some folks thinks its best to lie down at prayer, as 
the least likely to divart the thoughts." 

" I might not oonderstand. But nefcr mindt der religion, 
und coome to der p'int dat you mentioned." 

*' Well, that p'int is this. You're a Jarman, and can't like 
aristocrats, and so I'll trust you ; though, if you do betra}' nic, 
you'll never play on another bit of music in this country, or 
any other ! If you want to be an Injin, as good an opportunity 
will offer to-morrow as ever fell in a man's way ? 

" An Injin ! Vhat goot vill it do to be an Injin ? I dought 
it might be better to be a vhite man, in America ?" 

" Oh ! I mean only an anti-rent Injin. We've got matters 
so nicely fixed now, that a chap can be an Injin without any 
paint at all, or any washiu' or scrubbin', but can convart him- 
self into himself ag'in, at aiij' time, in two minutes. The wages 



224 THE liED SKINS. 

is good and the work light ; then we have rare chances in the 
stores, and round about among the farms. The law is, that an 
Injin must have what he wants, and no grumblin', and we take 
care to want enough. If you'll be at the mectin', I'll tell you 
how you'll know me." 

"Ja, ja — dat ist goot; I vill be at der meetin', sartainly. 
Vhere might it be ?" 

"Down at the village. The word came up this a'ternoon, 
and we shall all be on the ground by ten o'clock." 

' ' Vilt der be a fight, dat you meet so bunctually , and wid so 
moch spirit ?" 

" Fight ! Lord, no ; who is there to fight, I should like to 
know ? We are pretty much all ag'in the Littlepages, and 
there's none of them on the ground but two or three women. 
I'll tell you how it's all settled. The meetin' is called on the 
deliberative and liberty-supportin' plan. I s'pose you know 
we've all sorts of meetin' s in this countiy ?" 

"Nein; I dought dere might be meetin's for bolitics, vhen 
der bcople might coome, but I don't know vhat else." 

" Is't possible! What, have you no 'indignation meetin's 
in Jarmany ? We count a great deal on our indignation meetin's, 
and both sides have 'em in abundance, when things get to be 
warm. Our meetin' to-morrow is for deliberation and liberty- 
principles generally. We may pass some indignation resolu- 
tions about aristocrats, for nobody can bear them critturs in 
this part of the country, I can tell you." 

Lest this manuscript should get into the hands of some of 
those who do not understand the real condition of New York 
society, it may be well to explain that " aristocrat" means, in 
the parlance of the country, no other than a man of gentleman- 
like tastes, habits, opinions and associations. There are grada- 
tions among the aristocracy of the state, as well as among other 
men. Thus he who is an aristocrat in a hamlet, would be very 
democratic in a village ; and he of the village might be no 
aristocrat in the town, at all ; though, in the towns generally, 
indeed always, when their population has the least of a town 



THE REDSKINS. 225 

clianictcr, the distinction ceases altogether, men quietly drop- 
ping into the traces of civilized society, and talking or thinking 
very little about it. To see the crying evils of American aris- 
tocracy, then, one must go into the country. There, indeed, a 
plenty of cases exist. Thus, if there happen to be a man whose 
property is assessed at twenty-five per cent, above that of all his 
neighbors — who must have right on his side bright as a cloud- 
less sun to get a verdict, if obliged to appeal to the laws — who 
pays fifty per cent, more for every thing he buys, and receives 
fifty per cent, less for every thing he sells, than any other person 
near him — who is surrounded by rancorous enemies, in the 
midst of a seeming state of peace — who has every thing he says 
and does perverted, and added to, and lied about — who is tra- 
duced because his dinner-hour is later than that of " other 
folks" — who don't stoop, but is straight in the back — who pre- 
sumes to doubt that this country in general, and his own town- 
■ship in particular, is the focus of civilization — who hesitates 
about signing his name to any flagrant instance of ignorance, 
bad taste, or worse morals, that his neighbors may get up in 
the shape of a petition, remonstrance, or resolution — depend 
on it that man is a prodigious aristocrat, and one who, for his 
many offences and manner of lording it over mankind, deserves 
to be banished. I ask the reader's pardon for so abruptly break- 
ing in upon Joshua's speech, but such very difterent notions 
exist about aristocrats, in different parts of the world, that some 
such explanation was necessary in order to prevent mistakes. I 
h^ve forgotten one mark of the tribe that is, perhaps, more 
material than all the rest, which must not be omitted, and is 
this : — if he happen to be a man Avho prefers his own pursuits 
to public life, and is regardless of "popularity," he is just guilty 
of the unpardonable sin. The " people" will forgive any thing 
sooner than this; though there are "folks" who fancy it as 
infallible a sign of an aristocrat not to chew tobacco. But, 
unless I return to Joshua, the reader will complain that I cause 
him to stand still. 

" No, no," continued Mr. ]>righam ; " any thing but an aris- 



226 THE REDSKINS. 

tocrat for me. I hate the very name of the sarpents, and wish 
there warn't one in the land. To-morrow we are to have a 
great aiiti-rent lecturer out " 

"A vhat?" 

"A lecturer; one that lectur's, you understand, on anti- 
rentism, temperance, aristocracy, government, or any other 
grievance that may happen to be uppermost. Have you no 
lecturers in Jarmany ?" 

"Ja, ja; dere ist lecturers in das universities — blenty of 
dem." 

"Well, Ave have 'em universal and partic'lar, as avc happen 
to want 'em. To-morrow we're to have one, they tell me, the 
smartest man that has appeared in the cause. He goes it 
strong, and the Injins mean to back him up with all sorts of 
shrieks and whoopin's. Your hurdy-gurdy, there, makes no sort 
of music to what our tribe can make when we fairly open our 
throats." 

" Veil, dis ist queer ! I vast told dat der Americans vast 
all philosophers, und dat all dey didt vast didt in a t'oughtful 
and sober manner; und now you dells me dcy screams deir 
arguments like Injins!" 

"That Ave do! I Avish you'd been here in the hard-cider 
and log-cabin times, and you'd a seen reason and philosophy, 
as you call it ! I Avas a Avhig that summer, though I went 
democrat last season. There's about five hundred on us in this 
country that make the most of things, I can tell you. What's 
the use of a vote, if a body gets nothin' by it ? But to-morroAV- 
you'll see the business done up, and matters detarmined for 
this part of the Avorld, in fine style. We know what we're 
about, and we mean to carry things through quite to the end." 

" Und vhat do you means to do ?" 

"Well, seein' that you seem to be of the right sort, and be 
so likely to put on the Injin shirt, I'll tell you all about it. We 
mean to get good and old farms at favorable rates. That's 
what Ave mean to do. The people's up and in 'amest, and 
what the people Avaiit they'll have! This time they Avant farms, 



THE REDSKINS. 227 

and farms they must have. What's the use of haviii' a govern- 
ment of the people, if the people's obliged to want farms? 
We've begun ag'in' the Rensselaers, and the durables, and the 
quarter-sales, and the chickens ; but we don't, by no manner 
of means, think of eending there. What should we get by 
that? A man wants to get suthin' when he puts his foot into a 
matter of this natur'. We know who's our fri'nds and who's 
our inimies ! Could we have some men I could name for gov- 
ernors, all would go clear enough the first winter. We Avould 
tax the landlords out, and law 'em about in one way and an- 
other, so as to make 'em right down glad to sell the last rod 
of their lands, and that cheap, too !" 

" Und who might own dese farms, all oop und down der 
coontry, dat I sees ?" 

"As the law now stands, Littlepage owns 'em; but if we 
alter the law enough, he wun't. If we can only work the leg- 
islature up to the stickin' p'int, we shall get all we want. 
Would you believe it, the man wun't sell a single farm, they 
say ; but wishes to keep every one on 'em for himself ! Is that 
to be borne in a free country ? They'd hardly stand that in 
Jarmany, I'm thinkin'. A man that is such an aristocrat as to 
refuse to sell any thing, I despise." 

"Veil, dey stand to der laws in Charmany, und bruperty 
is respected in most coontries. You voukln't do away wid der 
rights of bropcrty, if you mights, I hopes?" 

" Not I. If a man owns a watch, or a horse, or a cow, I'm 
for having the law such that a poor man can keep 'em, even 
ag'in execution. We're getting the laws pretty straight on them 
p'ints, in old York, I can tell you ; a poor man, let him be ever 
so much in debt, can hold on to a 'mighty smart lot of things, 
nowadays, and laugh at the law right in its face ! I've known 
chaps that owed as much as ^200, hold on to as good as $300 ; 
though most of their deV'tS was for the very things they held on 
to !" 

Wh:it a y-lctiViO is this, yet is it not true ? A state of society 
in which a rnan can contract a debt for acoAv, or his household 



228 T II E RE DS KI N S. 

goods, and laugh at liis creditor -wlien lie seeks Lis pay, on the 
one hand ; and on the other, legislators and executives lending 
themselves to the chicanery of another set, that are striving to 
deprive a particular class of its rights of property, directly in 
the face of written contracts ! This is straining at the gnat and 
swallowing the camel, with a vengeance ; and all for votes ! 
Does any one really expect a community can long exist, favored 
by a wise and justice-dispensing Providence, in which auch 
things are coolly attempted — ay, and coolly done ? It is time 
that the American began to see things as they are, and not as 
they are said to be, in the speeches of governors, Fourth-of- 
July orations, and electioneering addresses. I write warmly, I 
know, but I feel warmly ; and I write like a man who sees that 
a most flagitious attempt to rob him is tampered with by some 
in power, instead of being met, as the boasted morals and in- 
telligence of the country would require, by the stem opposition 
of all in authority. Curses — deep, deep curses — ere long, will 
fall on all who shrink from their duty in such a crisis. Even 
the very men who succeed, if succeed they should, will, in the 
end, corse the instruments of their own success.* 

" A firstrate lecturer on feudal tenors" (Joshua was not in 
the least particular in his language, but, in the substance, ho 
knew what he was talking about as well as some who are in 
liigh places), "chickens and days' works. We expect a great 
deal from thi» man, who is paid well for coming." 

" Und who mighit bay him ? — der state?" 

a ^Q^^^Q haven't got to that ^'et ; though some think the 

* That Mr. Hugh Littlepago u'oes fiot feel or express himself too strongly on tho 
Blate of things that has now existed i.-u)ong^ll6 for long, Jong years, the following case, 
but one that illustrates the uielaneholy ttalh among many, will sihow. At a time 
when tho tenants of an extensive landlord, ^ w^feom tens of thousands were owing 
for rent, were openly resisting tlie Jaw, and "It'fcat'Bg ^^'^ry attempt to distrain, 
thougli two ordinary companies of .evsn armed WB^tsi-'^s would have put them 
down, the sheriff entered the house of tjaat vary landk^''*'' **^' '^^'^'^ "° ^'* furniture 
for debt. Had that gentleman, on the just and pervading '"^Jn^'P^ "'^* ^^ '"'''"^ "" 
allegiance to an authority that did not protect him, resisted i ''® Jl«fc-"*^* °"^^''''' ''" 
would have gone to the state's prison ; and there he might have s..'"'''^ ^"*'' ^'^ '"^' 
hour of service was expended-— Editde. 



THE KED SKINS. 229 

state will Jiave to do it, in the long run. At present tlic tenants 
are taxed so mucli on the dollar, accordm' to rent, or so much 
an acre, and that way the needful money is raised. But one 
of our lecturers told us, a time back, that it was money put 
out at use, and every man ought to keep an account of what he 
give, for the time was not far off when he would get it back, 
with double interest. * It is paid now for a reform,' he said, 
' and when the reform is obtained, no doubt the state would 
feel itself so much indebted to us all, that it would tax the 
late landlords until we got all our money back again, and more 
too." 

"Dat vould pe a bretty speculation ; ja, dat might be most 
bootlful !" 

"Why, yes; it wouldn't be a bad operation, living on the 
iniray, as a body might say. But you'll not catch our folks 
livin' on themselves, I can tell you. That they might do with- 
out societies. No, we've an object ; and when folks has an 
object, they commonly look sharp a'ter it. We don't let on 
all we want and mean openly ; and you'll find folks among us 
that'll deny stoutly that anti-renters has any thing to do Avith 
the Injin system ; but folks an't obliged to believe the moon is 
all cheese, unless they've a mind to. Some among us main- 
tain that no man ought to hold more than a thousand acres of 
land, while others think natur' has laid down the law on that 
p'int, and that a man shouldn't hold more than he has need 
on." 

" Und vich side dost you favor ? — vich of desc obinions might 
not be yours 2" 

"I'm not partic'lar, so I get a good farm. I should like one 
with comfortable buildin's on't, and one that hasn't been Avork- 
ed to death. For them two principles I think I'd stand out ; 
but, whether there be four hundred acres, or four hundred and 
fifty, or even five hundred, I'm no way onaccomodatin'. I 
expect there'll be trouble in the eend, when wc come to the 
division, but I'm not the man to make it. I s'pose I shall get 
my turn at the town ofiices, and other chances, and, givin' me my 



J JO THE REDSKINS. 

rights to tliera, I'll take up with almost any form young Littlo- 
page has, though I should rather have one in the main valley 
here, than one more out of the way ; still, I don't set myself 
down as at all partic'lar." 

" Und vhat do you expect to bay Mr. Littlepage for dcr 
farm, ast you might choose ?" 

" That depends on circumstances. The Injins mainly expect 
to come in cheap. Some folks think it's best to pay suthin', 
as it might stand ag'in law better, should it come to that ; 
while other some see no great use in paying any thing. Them 
that's willing to pay, mainly hold out for paying the principal 
of the first rents." 

"I doesn't oonderstandt vhat you means py der brincipal of 
der first rents." 

"It's plain enough, when you get the lay on't. You see, 
these lands were let pretty low, when they were first taken up 
from the forest, in order to get folks to live here. That's the 
way we're obliged to do in America, or people won't come. 
Many tenants paid no rent at all for six, eight, or ten years ; 
and a'ter that, until their three lives run out, as it is called, 
they paid only sixpence an acre, or six dollars and a quarter 
on the hundred acres. That was done, you see, to buy men to 
come here at all ; and you cau see by the price that was paid, 
how hard a time they must have had on't. Now, some of our 
folks hold that the whull time ought to be counted — that 
which was rent free, and that which was not — in a way that 
I'll explain to you ; for I'd have you to know I haven't en- 
tered into this business Avithout looking to the right and tliP 
wrong on't." 

" Exblain, exblain ; I might hear you exblain, and you most 
exblain." 

'* Why, you're in a hurry, friend Griezenbach, or whatever 
your name be. But I'll explain, if you wish it. S'pose, now, 
a lease run thirty years — ten on nothin', and twenty on six- 
pences. Well, a hundred sixpences makes fifty shillings, and 
twenty times fifty makes a thousand, as all the rent paid iu 



Til E HE D SKINS. 231 

tliirty years. If you divide a thousand by thirty, it leaves 
thirty-three shillings and a fraction" — Joshua calculated like an 
American of his class, accurately and with rapidity — " for the 
average rent of the thirty years. Calling thirty-three shillings 
four dollars, and it's plaguy little more, we have that for the 
interest, which, at seven p^ cent., will make a principal of 
lather more than fifty dolilrs, though not as much as sixty. 
As sich matters ought to be done on liberal principles, they say 
that Littlepage ought to take fifty dollars, and give a deed for 
the hundred acres." 

" TJnd vhat might be der rent of a hoondred acres now ? — he 
might get more dan sixpence to-day ?" 

" That he does. Most all of the farms are running out on 
second, and some on third leases. Four shilling an acre is 
about the average of the rents, accordin' to circumstances.'' 

" Den you dinks der landlort ought to accept one years rent 
for der farms ?" 

" I don't look on it in that light. He ought to take fifty 
dollars for a hundred acres. You forget the tenants have paid 
for their farms, over and over again, in rent. They./ee^ as if 
they have paid enough, and that it was time to stop." 

Extraordinary as this reasoning may seem in most men's 
minds, I have since found it is a very fovorite sentiment among 
anti-renters. "Are we to go on, and pay rent forever?" they 
ask, with logical and virtuous indignation ! 

" Und vhat may be der aferage value of a hoondred acre 
farm, in dis part of de coontry ?" I inquired. 

" From two thousand five hundred to three thousand dol- 
Lirs. It would be more, but tenants won't put good buildings 
on farms, you know, secin' that they don't own them. I heard 
one of our leaders lamcntin' that he didn't foresee what times 
were comin' to, when he repaired his old house, or he would 
have built a new one. But a man can't foretell everj-^ thing. I 
dare say many has the same feelin's, now." 

"Den you dinks Herr Littlebage ought to accept $50 for 
vhat is worth $2,500 ? Das seems ferry little." 



232 THE REDSKINS. 

" You forget the back rent that has been paid, and the work 
the tenant has done. What would the farm be good for with- 
out the Avork that has been done on it ?" 

" Ja, ja — I oonderstandst ; und vhat vould der work be goo*; 
for vidout der landt on vhich it vast done ?" 

This was rather an incautious question to put to a man as 
distrustful and roguish as Joshua iftgham. The fellow cast a 
lowering and distrustful look at me ; but ere there was time to 
answer, Miller, of whom he stood in healthful awe, called him 
away to look after the cows. 

Here, then, I had enjoyed an opportunity of hearing the 
opinions of one of my own hirelings on the interesting sub- 
ject of my right to my own estate, I have since ascertained 
that, while these sentiments are sedulously kept out of view in 
the proceedings of the government, which deals with the whole 
matter as if the tenants were nothing but martyrs to hard bar- 
gains, and the landlords their taskmasters, of greater or less 
lenity, they are extensively circulated in the "infected dis- 
tricts," and are held to be very sound doctrines by a large 
number of the "bone and sinew of the laud." Of course the 
reasoning is varied a little, to suit circumstances, and to make 
it meet the facts. But of this school is a great deal, and a very 
great deal, of the reasoning that circulates on the leased prop- 
erty ; and, from what I have seen and heard already, I make 
no doubt that there are qicasi legislators among us, who, instead 
of holding the manly and only safe doctrine which ought to be 
held on such a subject, and saying that these deluded men 
should be taught better, are ready to cite the very fact that such 
notions do exist as a reason for the necessity of making conces- 
sions, in order to keep the peace at the cheaper rate. That 
profound principle of legislation, which concedes the right in 
order to maintain quiet, is admirably adapted to forming sin- 
ners ; and, if carried out in favor of all who may happen to 
covet their neighbors' goods, Avould, in a short time, render this 
community the very paradise of knaves. 

As for Joshua Brigham, I saw no more of 'him that night ; 



THE REDSKI^S. 



283 



for lie quitted the farm on leave, just as it got to be dark. 
Where he went I do not know ; but the errand on which he 
left us could no longer be a secret to me. As the family re- 
tired early, and we ourselves were a good deal fatigued, every 
body Avas in bed by nine o'clock, and, judging from myself, 
soon asleep. Previously to saying "good-night," however. 
Miller told us of the meeting of the next day, and of his inten 
lion to attend it. 




23'i 



THE RKDSKINH. 



CnAPTER XIIL 



" lie l;nows the game ; how true he keeps the -WTTid 1 
Silenco." 

King Henry VI. 



After an early breakfast, next morning, tlie signs of prejxn- 
ration for a start became very apparent in the family. Not only 
Miller, but his wife and daughter, intended to go down to 
"Little Neest," as the hamlet was almost invariably called in 
that fragment of the universe, in contradistinction to the 
" Neest" proper. I found afterward that this very circum- 
stance was cited against me in the controversy, it being thought 
Vcse-majeste for a private residence to monopolize the major of 
the proposition, while a hamlet had to put up with the minor ; 
the latter, moreover, including two taverns, which are exclu- 
sively the property of the public, there being exclusiveness with 
the public as well as with aristocrats — more especially in all 
things that pertain to power or profit. As to the two last, 
even Joshua Brigham was much more of an aristocrat than I 
was myself. It must be admitted that the Americans are a 
humane population, for they are the only people who deem that 
bankruptcy gives a claim to public favor.* 

As respects the two *' Nests," had not so much more serious 
matter been in agitation, the precedence of the names might 
actually have been taken up as a question of moment. I have 
heard of a lawsuit in France, touching a name that has been 
illustrious in that country for a period so long as to extend be- 

* Absurd as this may seem, it is nevertheless true, and for a reason that is credit- 
able rather than the reverse— a wish to help along the unfortunate, it is a great mis 
take however, as a rule, to admit of any other motive for selecting for public trusts.. • 
than qualification.— Editor. 



THE REDSKINS. 235 

yond the reach of man — as, indeed, was apparent by the mat- 
ter in controversy — and which name has obtained for itself a 
high place in the annals of even our own republic. I allude to 
the house of Grasse, which was seated, prior to the revolution, 
and may be still, at a place called Grasse, in the southern part 
of the kingdom, the town being almost as famous for the man- 
ufacture of pleasant things as the family for its exploits in 
arms. About a century since, the Marquis de Grasse is said to 
have had a proces with his neighbors of the place, to establish 
the fact whether the family gave its name to the town, or the 
town gave its name to the family. The marquis prevailed in 
the struggle, but greatly impaired his fortune in achieving that 
new victory. As my house, or its predecessor, was certainly 
erected and named while the site of Little Nest was still in the 
virgin forest, one would think its claims to the priority of pos- 
session beyond dispute ; but such might not prove to be the 
case on a trial. There are two histories among us, as relates to 
both public and private things ; the one being as nearly true as 
is usual, while the other is invariably the fruits of the human 
imagination. Every thing depending so much on majorities, 
that soon gets to be the most authentic tradition which has the 
most believers ; for, under the system of numbers, little regard 
is paid to superior advantages, knowledge, or investigation, all 
depending on three as against two, which makes one majority, 
I find a great deal of this spurious history is getting to be mixed 
up with the anti-rent controversy, facts coming out daily that 
long have lain dormant in the graves of the past. These facts 
afl'cct the whole structure of the historical picture of the state 
and colony, leaving touches of black where the pencil had 
originally put in white, and placing the high lights where the 
shadows have before always been understood to be. In a word, 
men are telling the stories as best agrees with their present 
views, and not at all as they agree with the fact. 

It Avas the intention of Tom Miller to give my uncle Ro and 
me a dearborn to ourselves, while he drove his wife, Kitty and 
a hel]), as far as the "Little Neest," in a two-horse vehicle that 



236 THE REDSKINS. 

was better adapted to such a freight. Tims disposed of, tlien, 
we all left the place in company, just as the clock in the farm- 
house entry struck nine. I drove our horse myself ; and mine 
he was, in fact, every hoof, vehicle and farming utensil on the 
Nest farm, being as much my property, under the old laws, as 
the hat on my head. It is true, the Millers had now been fifty 
years or more, nay, nearly sixty, in possession, and by the new 
mode of construction it is possible some may fancy that we 
had paid them wages so long for working the land, and for 
using the cattle and utensils, that the title, in a moral sense, 
had passed out of me, in order to pass into Tom Miller. If 
use begets a right, why not to a wagon and horse, as well as to 
a farm. 

As we left the place I gazed wistfully toward the Nest 
House, in the hope of seeing the form of some one that I 
loved, at a window, on the lawn, or in the piazza. Not a soul 
appeared, however, and we trotted down the road a short dis- 
tance in the rear of the other wagon, conversing on such things 
as came uppermost in our minds. The distance we had to go 
was about four miles, and the hour named for the commence- 
ment of the lecture, which was to be the great affair of the day, 
had been named at eleven. This caused us to be in no hurry, 
and I rather preferred to coincide with the animal I drove, and 
move very slowly, than hurry on, and anive an hour or two 
sooner than was required. In consequence of this feeling on 
our part, Miller and his family were soon out of sight, it being 
their wish to obtain as much of the marvels of the day as was 
possible. 

The road, of course, was perfectly well known to my uncle 
and myself; but, had it not been, there was no danger of miss- 
ing our way, as we had only to follow the general direction of 
the broad valley through which it ran. Then Miller had con- 
siderately told us that we must pass two churches, or a church 
and a " meetin'-'us'," the spires of both of which were visible 
most of the Avay, answering for beacons. Referring to this 
terra of " meeting-house," does it not furnish conclusive cvi- 



THE REDSKINS. 237 

(Icnce, of itself, of the inconsistent folly of that wisest of all 
earthly beings, man ? It was adopted in contradistinction 
from, and in direct opposition to, the supposed idolatrous asso- 
ciation connected with the use of the word " church," at a time 
when certain sects would feel offended at hearing their places 
of worship thus styled ; whereas, at the present day, those 
very sectarians are a little disposed to resent this exclusive ap- 
propriation of the proscribed word by the sects who have 
always adhered to it as offensively presuming, and, in a slight 
degree, " arisdogradic !" I am a little afraid that your out-and- 
outers in politics, religion, love of liberty, and other human ox- 
cellences, are somewhat apt to make these circuits in their eccen- 
tric orbits, and to come out somewhere quite near the places 
from which they started. 

The road between the Nest House and Little Nest, the ham- 
let, is rural, and quite as agreeable as is usually found in a part 
of the country that is without water-views or mountain scene- 
ry. Our New York landscapes are rarely, nay, never grand, 
as compared with the noble views one finds in Italy, Switzer- 
land, Spain, and the finer parts of Europe ; but we have a vast 
many that want nothing but a finish to their artificial accesso- 
ries to render them singularly agreeable. Such is the case with 
the principal vale of Ravensnest, which, at the very moment we 
were driving through it, struck my uncle and myself as present- 
ing a picture of rural abundance, mingled with rural comfort, 
that one seldom sees in the old world, where the absence of 
enclosures, and the concentration of the dwellings in villages, 
leave the fields naked and with a desolate appearance, in spite 
of their high tillage and crops. 

" This is an estate worth contending for, now," said my uncle, 
as we trotted slowly on, "although it has not hitherto been very 
productive to its owner. The first half-century of an American 
property of this sort rarely brings much to its proprietor beyond 
trouble and vexation." 

"And after that time the tenant is to have it, pretty much al 
his own price, as a reward for his own labor!" 



238 THE KED SKINS. 

" What evidences are to be found, wherever the eye rests of 
the selfishness of man, and his unfitness to be left to the unlim- 
ited control of his own affairs ! In England they are quarrel- 
ling with the landlords, who do compose a real aristocracy, and 
make the laws, about the manner in which they protect them- 
selves and the products of their estates ; while here the true 
owner of the soil is struggling against the power of numbers, 
with the people, who are the only aristocrats we possess, in 
order to maintain his right of property in the simplest and most 
naked form ! A common vice is at the bottom of both 
wrongs, and that is the vice of selfishness." 

"But how are abuses like those of which we complain here 
— abuses of the most formidable character of any that can 
exist, since the oppressors are so many, and so totally irre- 
sponsible by their numbers — to be avoided, if you give the 
people the right of self-government?" 

"God help the nation where self-government, in its literal 
sense, exists, Hugh ! The term is conventional, and, properly 
viewed, means a government in which the source of authority 
is the body of the nation, and does not come from any other 
sovereign. When a people that has been properly educated 
by experience calmly selects its agents, and coolly sets to work 
to adopt a set of principles to form its fundamental law or con- 
stitution, the machine is on the right track, and will work well 
enough so long as it is kept there; but this running off", and 
altering the fundamental principles every time a political faction 
has need of recruits, is introducing tyranny in its worst form — 
a tyranny that is just as dangerous to real liberty as hypocrisy 
is to religion !" 

We were now approaching St. Andrew's church, and the 
rectory, with its glebe, the latter lying contiguous to the church- 
yard, or, as it is an Americanism to say, the "grave-yard." 
There had been an evident improvement around the rectory 
since I had last seen it. Shrubbery had been planted, care 
was taken of the fences, the garden was neatly and well worked, 
the fields looked smooth, uiid every tiling denoted that it was 



THE REDSKINS. 239 

' new lords and new laws." The last incumbent had been a 
whining, complainmg, narrow-minded, selfish and lazy priest, 
the least estimable of all human characters, short of the com- 
mission of the actual and higher crimes ; but his successor 
had the reputation of being a devout and real Christian — one 
who took delight in the duties of his holy office, and Avho served 
God because he loved him. I am fully aware how laborious 
is the life of a country priest, and how contracted and mean is 
the pittance he in common receives, and how much more he 
merits than he gets, if his reward were to be graduated by 
things here. But this picture, like every other, has its differ- 
ent sides, and occasionally men do certainly enter the church 
from motives as little as possible connected with those that 
ought to influence them. 

"There is the wagon of Mr. Warren, at his door," observed 
my uncle, as we passed the rectory. "Can it be that he in- 
tends visiting the village also, on au occasion like this ?" 

" Nothing more probable, sir, if the character Patt has given 
of him be true," I answered. " She tells me he has been active 
in endeavoring to put down the covetous spirit that is getting 
uppermost in the town, and has even preached boldly, though 
generally, against the principles involved in the question. The 
other man, they say, goes for popularity, and preaches and 
prays with the anti-renters." 

No more Avas said, but on we went, soon entering a large bit 
of wood, a part of the virgin forest. This wood, exceeding a 
thousand acres in extent, stretched down from the hills along 
some broken and otherwise Httle valuable land, and had been 
reserved from the axe to meet the wants of some future day. 
It was mine, therefore, in the fullest sense of the word ; and, 
singular as it may seem, one of the grounds of accusation 
brought against me and my predecessors was that Ave had 
declined leasing it ! Thus, on the one hand, we were abused 
for having leased our land, and, on the other, for not having 
leased it. The fact is, we, in common with other extensive 
landlords, arc expected to use our property as much as possible 



240 THE REDSKINS. 

for the particular benefit of other people, while those other 
people are expected to use their property as much as possible 
for their own particular benefit. 

There was near a mile of forest to pass before we came out 
again in the open country, at about a mile and a half's distance 
from the hamlet. On our left this little forest did not extend 
more than a hundred rods, terminating at the edge of the 
rivulet — or creek, as the stream is erroneously called, and for no 
visible reason but the fact that it was only a hundred feet 
wide — which swept close under the broken ground mentioned 
at this point. On our right, however, the forest stretched away 
for more than a mile, until, indeed, it became lost and con- 
founded with other portions of wood that had been reserved 
for the farms on which they grew. As is very usual in America, 
in cases where roads pass through a forest, a second growth had 
shot up on each side of this highway, which was fringed for the 
whole distance with large bushes of pine, hemlock, chestnut 
and maple. In some places these bushes almost touched the 
track, while in others a large space was given. We were wind- 
ing our way through this wood, and had nearly reached its 
centre, at a point where no house was visible — and no house, 
indeed, stood within half a mile of us — with the view in front 
and in rear limited to some six or eight rods in each direction 
by the young trees, when our ears were startled by a low, shrill, 
banditti-like whistle. I must confess that my feelings were any 
thing but comfortable at that interruption, for I remembered 
the conversation of the previous night. I thought by the sud- 
den jump of my uncle, and the manner he instinctively felt 
where he ought to have had a pistol, to meet such a crisis, 
that he believed himself already in the hands of the Philistines. 

A half minute sufiiced to tell us the truth. I had hardly 
stopped the horse, in order to look around me, when a line of 
men, all armed and disguised, issued in single file from tlio 
bushes, and drew up in the road, at right angles to its course. 
There were six of these "Injins," as they are called, and, in- 
deed, call themselves, each carrying a rifle, horn and pouch, and 



THE KEDSKINS, 241 

otlierwise equipped for tlie field. Tlie disguises were very 
simple, consisting of a sort of loose calico hunting-shirt and 
trowsers that completely concealed the person. The head was 
covered by a species of hood, or mask, equally of calico, that 
was fitted with holes for the eyes, nose and mouth, and which 
completed the disguise. There were no means of recognizing 
a man thus equipped, unless it might be by the stature, in 
cases in which the party was either unusually tall or unusually 
short. A middle-sized man was perfectly safe from recogni- 
tion, so long as he did not speak and could keep his equip- 
ments. Those who did speak altered their voices, as we soon 
found, using a jargon that was intended to imitate the imper- 
fect English of the native owners of the soil. Although neither 
of us had ever seen one of the gang before, we knew these dis- 
turbers of the public peace to be what in truth they were, the 
instant our eyes fell on them. One could not well be mis- 
taken, indeed, under the circumstances in which we were 
placed ; but the tomahawks that one or two carried, the man- 
ner of their march, and other pieces of mummery that they 
exhibited, would have told us the fact, had we met them even 
in another place. 

My first impulse was to turn the wagon, and to endeavor to 
lash the lazy beast I drove into a run. Fortunately, before the 
attempt was made, I turned my head to see if there was room 
for such an exploit, and saw six others of these " Injins" drawn 
across the road behind us. It Avas now so obviously the wisest 
course to put the best face on the matter, that we walked the 
horse boldly up to the party in front, until he was stopped by 
one of the gang taking him by the bridle. 

*'Si^o, sago," cried one who seemed to act as a chief, and 
whom I shall thus designate, speaking iu his natural voice, 
though affecting an Indian pronunciation. " How do, how 
do ? — where come from, eh ? — where go, eh ? What you say, 
too — up rent or down rent, eh ?" 

"Ve ist two Charmans," returned miclc Ro, iu his most des- 
perate dialect, the absurdity of men who spoke the same lan- 
11 



242 THE REDSKINS. 

guage resorting to sucli similar means of deception tempting 
me sorely to laugh in the fellows' faces ; " Ve ist two Char- 
mans dat ist goin' to hear a man's sbeak about bayin' rent, 
und to sell vatches. Might you buy a vatch, goot shentlemans ?" 

Although the fellows doubtless knew who we were, so far as 
our assumed characters went, and had probably been advised 
of our approach, this bait took, and there was a general jump- 
ing up and down, and a common pow-wowing among them, 
indicative of the pleasure such a proposal gave. In a minute 
the whole party were around us, with some eight or ten more, 
who appeared from the nearest bushes. We were helped out 
of the wagon with a gentle violence that denoted their impa- 
tience. As a matter of course, I expected that all the trinkets 
and watches, which were of little value, fortunately, would im- 
mediately disappear ; for who could doubt that men engaged 
in attempting to rob on so large a scale as these fellows were 
engaged in, would hesitate about doing a job on one a little 
more diminutive. I was mistaken, however ; some sort of im- 
perceptible discipline keeping those who were thus disposed, 
of whom there must have been some in such a party, in tem- 
porary order. The horse was left standing in the middle of 
•ihe highway, right glad to take his rest, while we were shown 
the trunk of a fallen tree, near by, on which to place our box 
of wares. A dozen watches were presently in the hands of as 
many of these seeming savages, who manifested a good deal 
of admiration at their shining appearance. While this scene, 
which was half mummery and half nature, Avas in the course 
of enactment, the chief beckoned me to a seat on the further 
end of the tree, and, attended by one or two of his companions, 
he began to question me as follows: 

"Mind, tell truth," he said, making no veiy expert actor in 
the way of imitation. "Dis 'Streak o' Lightning,'" laying 
his hand on his own breast, that I might not misconceive the 
person of the warrior who bore so eminent a title — "no good 
lie to him — know ebbery t'ing afore he ask, only ask for fuu — • 
what do here, eh ?'" 



THE REDSKINS. 243 

" Ve coomes to sec der Injins und der beoples at der village, 
dat ve might sell our vatches." 

"Datall; sartain ? — can call 'down rent,' eh?" 

" Dat ist ferry easy ; ' down rent, eli ?' " 

"Sartain Jarman, eh? — you no spy? — you no sent here by 
gubbernor, eh? — landlord no pay you, eh !" 

"Vhat might I spy? Dere ist nothin' do spy, but mans vid 
calico faces. Vhy been you afraid of der governor? — I dinks 
der governors be feiTy goot frients of der anti-rents." 

" Not when we act this way. Send horse, send foot a'tcr us, 
den. Tink good friend, too, when he dare." 

" He be d d !" bawled out one of the tribe, in as good, 

liomely, rustic English as ever came out of the mouth of a clown. 
" If he's our friend, why did he send the artillery and horse 
down to Hudson ? — and why has he had Big Thunder up afore 
his infarnal courts ? He be d d !" 

There was no mistaking this outpouring of the feelings ; and 
so '* Streak o' Lightning" seemed to think too, for he whispered 
one of the tribe, who took the plain-speaking Injin by the arm 
and led him away, grumbling and growling, as the thunder 
mutters in the horizon after the storm has passed on. For 
myself, I made several profitable reflections concerning the in- 
evitable fate of those who attempt to " serve God and Mammon." 
This anti-re ntism is a question in which, so far as a governor is 
concerned, there is but one course to pursue, and that is to en- 
force the laws by suppressing violence, and leaving the parties 
to the covenants of leases to settle their differences in the 
courts, like the parties to any other contracts. It is a poor 
rule that will not work both ways. Many a landlord has made 
a hard bargain for himself; and I happen to know of one case 
in particular, in which a family has long been, and is still, 
kept out of the enjoyment of a very valuable estate, as to any 
benefit of importance, purely by the circumstance that a weak- 
minded possessor of the property fancied he was securing souls 
for paradise by letting his farms on leases for ninety-nine years, 
!vt nominal rents, with a covenant that the tenant should go 



244 THE REDSKINS. 

twice to a paiticular cliurch ! Now, notliing is plainer than 
that it is a greater hardship to the citizen who is the owner of 
many fjirms so situated, tlian to the citizen who is the lessee 
of only one with a hard covenant ; and, on general principles, 
the landlord in question would be most entitled to relief, since 
one man who suffers a good deal is more an object of true com- 
miseration than many who suflfer each a little. What would a 
governor be apt to say if my landlord should go with his com- 
plaints to the foot of the executive chair, and tell him that 
the very covenant which had led his predecessor into the mis- 
take of thus wasting his means was openly disregarded ; that 
farms worth many thousands of dollars had now been enjoyed 
by the tenants for near a century for mere nominal rents, and 
that the owner of the land in fee had occasion for his property, 
&c., <kc. ? Would the governor recommend legislative action 
in that case ? Would the lemjlh of such leases induce him to 
recommend that no lease should exceed five years in duration ? 
Would the landlords who should get up a corps of Injins to 
worry their tenants into an abandonment of their farms be the 
objects of commiseration ? — and would the law slumber for 
years over their rebellions and depredations, until two or three 
murders aroused public indignation ? Let them answer that 
know. As a landlord, I should be sorry to incur the ridicule 
that would attend even a public complaint of the hardships of 
such a case. A common sneer would send me to the courts for 
my remedy, if I had one, and the whole difference between the 
*' if and ifs" of the two cases would be that a landlord gives 
but one vote, while his tenants may be legion.* 

" lie be d d," muttered the plain-speaking Injin, as 

long as I could hear him. As soon as released from his pres- 
ence. Streak o' Lightning continued his examination, though 
a little vexed at the undramatical character of the inter- 
ruption. 

♦ This is no invented statement, but strictly one that is true, the writer having 
himself a small interest iu a property so situated ; though he has not yet bethought 
him of applying to the legislature for relief.— Kditor. 



THE REDSKINS. 245 

" Sartaiii no spy, cli ? — sartain gubbcrnor no send him, ch ? 
— sartain conic to sell watch, ch?" 

" I coomes, as I tell yc, to see if vatches might be solt, nnd 
not for der gobbernor ; I neffer might sec der mans." 

As all this was true, my conscience felt pretty easy on the 
score of whatever there might be equivocal about it. 

" What folks think of Injiu down below, eh ? — what folks 
say of anti-rent, ch ? — hear him talk about much ?" 

"Veil, soome docs dink anti-rent ist goot, and soome does 
dink anti-rent ist bad. Dey dinks as they wishes." 

Here a low whistle came down the road, or rather down the 
bushes, when every Injin started up ; each man very fairly gave 
back the watch he was examining, and in less than half a min- 
ute we were alone on the log. This movement was so sudden 
that it left us in a little doubt as to the proper mode of pro- 
ceeding. My uncle, however, coolly set about replacing his 
treasures in their box, while I went to the horse, which had 
shaken off his head-stall, and was quietly grazing along the 
road-side. A minute or two might have been thus occupied, 
when the trotting of ahorse and the sound of wheels announced 
the near approach of one of those vehicles which have got to 
be almost national — a dearborn, or a one-horse wagon. As it 
came out from behind a screen of bushes formed by a curvature 
in the road, I saw that it contained the Rev. Mr. Warren and 
his sweet daughter. 

The road being narrow, and our vehicle in its centre, it was 
not possible for the new-comers to proceed until we got out of 
the way, and the divine pulled up as soon as he reached the 
spot where we stood. 

" Good morning, gentlemen,^'' said Mr. Warren, cordially, and 
using a word that, in his mouth, I felt meant all it expressed. 
"Good xaormng, gentlemen. Are you playing Handel to the 
wood-nymphs, or reciting eclogues?" 

*' Neider, neider, Herr Pastor ; we meet wid coostoiners 
here, und dey has joost left us," answered uncle Ro, who cer- 
tainly enacted his part with perfect aplomb, and the most ad- 



246 THE REDSKINS. 

mirable mimicry as to manner. ^^Guten tag, gulen tag. Might 
dcr Herr Pastor been going to der village ?" 

"We are. I understand there is to be a meeting there of the 
misguided men called anti-renters, and that several of my pa- 
rishioners are likely to be present. On such an occasion I con- 
ceive it to be my duty to go among my own particular people, 
and whisper a word of advice. Nothing can be farther from 
my notions of propriety than for a clergyman to be mingling 
and mixing himself up with political concerns in general, but 
this is a matter that touches morality, and the minister of God 
is neglectful of his duty who keeps aloof when a word of ad- 
monition might aid in preventing some wavering brother from 
the commission of a grievous sin. This last consideration has 
brought me out to a scene I could otherwise most heartily 
avoid." 

This might be well enough, I said to myself, but what has 
your daughter to do in such a scene ? Is the mind of Mary 
Warren, then, after all, no better than vulgar minds in general? 
— and can she find a pleasure in the excitement of lectures of 
this cast, and in that of public meetings ? No surer test can 
be found of cultivation, than the manner in which it almost in- 
tuitively shrinks from communion unnecessarily with tastes and 
principles below its own level ; yet here was the girl with whom 
I was already half in love — and that was saying as little as could 
be said, too — actually going down to the "Little Nest" to hear 
an itinerant lecturer on political economy utter his crudities, 
and to see and be seen ! I was grievously disappointed, and 
would at the moment have cheerfully yielded the best farm 
on my estate to have had the thing otherwise. My uncle 
must have had some similar notion, by the remark he made. 

"Und doost das jung frau go to see der Injins, too ; to bcr- 
suade 'em dey ist fery vicked ?" 

Mary's face had been a little pale for her, I thought, as the 
wagon drew up ; but it immediately became scarlet. She even 
suffered her head to droop a little, and then I perceived that she 
cast an anxious and tender glance at her father. I cannot say 



THE UED SKINS. 247 

whether this look were or were not intended for a silent appeal, 
unconsciously made; but the father, without even seeing it, 
acted as if he fancied it might be, 

" No, no," he said, hurriedly ; "this dear girl is doing vio- 
lence to all her feelings but one, in venturing to such a place. 
Her filial piety has proved stronger than her fears and her 
tastes, and when she found that go I would, no argument of 
mine could persuade her to remain at home. I hope she will 
not repent it." 

The color did not quit Mary's face, but she looked grateful 
at finding her true motives appreciated ; and she even smiled, 
though she said nothing. My own feelings underwent another 
sudden revulsion. There was no want of those tastes and in- 
clinations that can alone render a young woman attractive to 
any man of sentiment, but there was high moral feeling and 
natural aftection enough to overcome them in a case in which 
she thought duty demanded the sacrifice ! It was very little 
probable that any thing would or could occur that day to ren- 
der the presence of Mary Warren in the least necessary or 
useful ; but it was very pleasant to me and very lovely in her 
to think otherwise, under the strong impulses of her filial at- 
tachment. 

Another idea, however, and one far less pleasant, suggested 
itself to the minds of my uncle and myself, and almost at the 
same instant ; it was this : the conversation was carried on in a 
high key, or loud enough to be heard at some little distance, 
the horse and part of the wagon interposing between the speak- 
ers ; and there was the physical certainty that some of those 
whom we knew to be close at hand, in the bushes, must hear 
all that was said, and might take serious oS"ence at it. Under 
this apprehension, therefore, my uncle directed me to remove 
our own vehicle as fast as possible, in order that the clergyman 
might pass. Mr. Warren, however, was in no hurry to do this, 
for he was utterly ignorant of the audience he had, and enter- 
tained that feeling toward us that men of liberal acquirement? 
are apt to feel when they see others of simihu- educations r»- 



248 THE Jt E D S K I N s . 

duccd by fortune below their proper level. lie was consequent- 
ly desirous of laanifestiug Ms sympathy with us, and would not 
proceed, even after I had opened the way for him. 

"It is a painful thing," continued Mr. Y/an-en, "to find mer 
mistaking their own cupidity for the workings of a love of 
liberty. To me nothing is more palpable than that this anti- 
rent movement is covetousness incited by the father of evil ; 
yet you will find men among us who fancy they are aiding the 
cause of free mstitutions by joining in it, when, in truth, they 
are doing all they can to bring them into discredit, and to in- 
sure their certain downfall, in the end." 

This Avas sufficiently awkward ; for, by going near enough to 
give a warning in a low voice, and have that warning followed 
by a change in the discourse, we should be betraying ourselves, 
and might fall into serious danger. At the very moment the 
clergyman was thus speaking I saw the masked head of Streak 
o' Lightning appearing through an opening in some small pines 
that grow a little in the rear of the wagon, a position that ena- 
bled him to hear every syllable that was uttered. I was afraid 
to act myself, and trusted to the greater experience of my uncle. 
Whether the last also saw the pretended chief was more than I 
knew, but he decided to let the conversation go on, rather lean- 
ing to the anti-rent side of the question, as the course that could 
do no sei'ious evil, while it might secure our own safety. It is 
scarcely necessary to say all these considerations glanced through 
our minds so swiftly as to cause no very awkward or suspicious 
pause in the discourse. 

"B'rhaps dey doosn't like to bay rent!" put in my uncle, 
with a roughness of manner that was in accordance with the 
roughness of the sentiment. "Beoples might radder haf deir 
landts for nuttin', dan bay rents for dem." 

" In that case, then, let them go and buy lands for them- 
selves ; if they do not wish to paj' rent, why did they agree to 
pay rent ?" 

" May be dey changes deir minds. Vhat is goot to-day 
doosn't always seem goot to-morrow." 



T II E RK D SK I N S. 2 1^9 

"TliHtmaybc true; but we have no right to make others 
suftcr for our own fickleness. I dare say, now, that it might be 
better for the Avhole community that so large a tract of land as 
that included in the Manor of Renssclaerwyck, for instance, and 
lying as it does in the very heart of the state, should be alto- 
gether in the hands of the occupants, than have it subject to 
the divided interest that actually exists ; but it does not follow 
that a change is to be made by violence, or by fraudulent 
means. In either of the latter cases the injury done the com- 
munity would be greater than if the present tenures were to 
exist a thousand years. I dare say much the larger portion of 
those farms can be bought off at a moderate advance on their 
actual money-value ; and that is the way to get rid of the diffi- 
culty; not by bullying owners out of their property. If the 
state finds a political consideration of so much importance for 
getting rid of the tenures, let the state tax itself to do so, <ind 
make a liberal offer, in addition to what the tenants Avill offer, 
and I'll answer for it the landlords will not stand so nmch in 
their own way as to decline good prices." 

" But, maybes dey Avon't sell all der landts ; dey may wants 
to keep some of dem." 

" They have a right to say yes or no, while we have no right 
to juggle or legislate them out of their property. The legisla- 
ture of this state has quite lately been exhibiting one of the 
most pitiable sights the world has seen in my day. It has been 
struggling for months to find a way to get round the positive 
provisions of laws and constitutions, in order to make a sacri- 
fice of the rights of a few, to secure the votes of the many." 

"Votes ist a goot ding, at election dimes — haw, haw, haw !" 
exclaimed my uncle. 

Mr. Warren looked both surprised and offended. Tlve coarse- 
ness of manner that my uncle had assumed effected its object 
with the Injins, but it almost destroyed the divine's previous 
good opinion of our characters, and quite upset his notions of 
our refinement and principles. There was no time for explana- 
tions however; for, just as my unclo's liroad ami woll-actotl 



250 THE li E D S K I N S , 

" liaw, haw, liaw" was ended, a shrill whistle was heard in the 
bushes, and some forty or fifty of the Injins came whooping and 
leaping out from their cover, filling the road in all directions, 
immediately around the wagons. 

Mary Warren uttered a little scream at this startling scene, 
and I saw her arm clinging to that of her father, by a sort of 
involuntary movement, as if she would protect him at all hazards. 
Then she seemed to rally, and from that instant her character 
assumed an energy, an earnestness, a spirit and an intrepidity 
that I had least expected in one so mild in asjicct, and so really 
sweet in disposition. 

All this was unnoticed by the Injins. They had their im- 
pulses, too, and the first thing they did was to assist Mr. War- 
ren and his daughter to alight from the wagon. This was done 
not without decorum of manner, and certainly not without some 
regard to the holy office of one of the parties, and to the sex of 
the other. Nevertheless, it was done neatly and expeditiousl)'^, 
leaving us all, Mr. Warren and Mary, my uncle and myself, 
with a cluster of some fifty Injins around us, standing in the 
centre of the highway. 



THE REDSKINS. 251 



CHAPTER XIV. 

No toil in desptiir. 

No tyrant, no slave. 
No brc.id-tax is there, 

With a maw like the grnvo." 

All this was so suddenly done as scarce to leave us time 
to think. There was one instant, notwithstanding, while two 
Injins were assisting Mary Warren to jump from the wagon, 
when my incognito was in great danger. Perceiving that the 
young lady was treated with no particular disrespect, I so far 
overcame the feeling as to remain quiet, though I silently 
changed my position sufficiently to get near her elbow, where I 
could and did whisper a word or two of encouragement. But 
Mary thought only of her father, and had no fears for herself. 
She saw none but him, trembled only for him, dreaded and 
hoped for him alone. 

As for Mr. Warren himself, he betrayed no discomposure. 
Had he been about to enter the desk, his manner could not 
have been more calm. He gazed around him, to ascertain if it 
were possible to recognize any of his captors, but suddenly 
turned his head away, as if struck with the expediency of not 
learning their names, even though it had been possible. He 
might be put on the stand as a witness against some misguided 
neighbor, did he know his person. All this was so apparent 
in his benevolent countenance, that I think it struck some 
among the Injins, and still believe it may have had a little 
influence on their treatment of him. A pot of tar and a bag of 
feathers had been brought into the road when the gang poured 
out of the bushes, but whether this were merely accidental, or 
it had originally been intended to use them on Mr. Warren, I 



252 THE H E U S K I N s . 

cannot say. The oft'ensive materials soon and silently disap- 
peared, and with them every sign of any intention to ofl'er per- 
sonal injury. 

" What have I done that I am thus arrested in the public 
highway, by men armed and disguised, contrary to law ?" de- 
manded the divine, as soon as the general pause which succeed- 
ed the first movement invited him to speak. " This is a I'ash 
and illegal step, that may yet bring repentance." 

"No preachee now," answered Streak o' Lightning; " preachee 
for meetin', no good for road." 

Mr. Warren afterward admitted to me that he was much re- 
lieved by this reply, the substitution of the word " meeting" for 
" church" giving him the grateful assurance that this individual, 
at least, was not one of his own people. 

"Admonition and remonstrance may always be useful when 
crime is meditated. You are now committing a felony, for 
which the state's prison is the punishment prescribed by the 
laws of the land, and the duties of my holy office direct me to 
warn you of the consequences. The earth itself is but one of 
God's temples, and his ministers need never hesitate to proclaim 
his laws on any part of it." 

It was evident that the calm severity of the divine, aided, no 
doubt, by his known character, produced an impression on the 
gang, for the two who had still hold of his arms released them, 
and a little circle was now formed, in the centre of which ho 
stood. 

" If you will enlarge this circle, my friends," continued Mr. 
Warren, " and give room, I will address you here, where we 
stand, and let you know my reasons why I think your conduct 
ought to be — " 

' No, no — no preachee here," suddenly interrupted Streak o' 
Lightning; "go to village, go to meetin'-'us' — preachee there 
— Two preacher, den. — Bring wagon and put him in. March, 
march ; path open." 

Although this was but an " Injin" imitation of "Indian' 
tententiousness, and somewhat of a caricature, everybody un 



THE REDSKINS. 253 

derstood well enough what was meant. Mr. Warren oftored 
no resistance, but suffered himself to be placed in Miller's 
wagon, with my uncle at his side, without opposition. Then it 
was, however, that he bethought himself of his daughter, though 
his daughter had never ceased, to think of him. I had some 
little difficulty in keeping her ftom rushing into the crowd, and 
clinging to his side. Mr. Warren rose, and, giving her an en- 
couraging smile, bade her be calm, told her he had nothing to 
fear, and requested that she would enter his own wagon again and 
return home, promising to rejoin her as soon as his duties at 
the village were discharged. 

"Here is no one to drive the horse, my child, but our young 
Gennan acquaintance. The distance is very short, and if he 
will thus oblige me, he can come down to the village with the 
wagon, as soon as he has seen you safe at our own door." 

Mary Warren was accustomed to defer to her father's opin- 
ions, and she so far submitted, now, as to permit me to assist 
her into the wagon, and to place myself at her side, whip in 
hand, proud of and pleased with the precious charge thus com- 
mitted to my care. These arrangements made, the Injins 
commenced their march, about half of them preceding, and the 
remainder following the wagon that contained their prisoner. 
Four, however, walked on each side of the vehicle, thus pre- 
venting the possibility of escape. No noise was made, and little 
was said ; the orders being given by signs and signals, rather 
than by words. 

Our wagon continued stationary until the party had got at 
least a hundred yards from us, no one giving any heed to our 
movements. I had waited thus long for the double purpose of 
noting the manner of the proceedings among the Injins, and to 
obtain room to turn at a spot in the road a short distance in 
advance of us, and which was wider than common. To this 
spot I now walked the horse, and was in the act of turning the 
animal's head in the required direction, when I saw Mary War- 
ren's little gloved hand laid hurriedly on the reins. She endeav- 
ored to keep the head of the horse in the road. 



254 T 11 E REDSKINS. 

"No, 110," said the cliarniing girl, speaking earnestly, as if 
ehe would not be denied, " we will follow my father to the vil- 
lage. I may not, must not, cannot quit him." 

The time and place were every way propitious, and I deter- 
mined to let Mary Warren know who I was. By doing it I 
might give her confidence in me at a moment when she was in 
distress, and encourage her with the hope that I might also 
befriend her father. At any rate, I was determined to pass for 
an itinerant Dutch music-grinder with her no longer. 

"Miss Mary, Miss Warren," I commenced, cautiously, and 
with quite as much hesitation and diffidence of feeling as of 
manner, " I am not what I seem — that is, I am no m\isic- 
grinder." 

The start, the look, and the alarm of my companion, were all 
eloquent and natural. Her hand was still on the reins, and 
she now drew on them so hard as actually to stop the horse. I 
thought she intended to jump out of the vehicle, as a place no 
longer fit for her. 

"Be not alarmed, Miss Warren," I said, eagerly, and, I 
trust, so earnestly as to inspire a little confidence. "You will 
not think the worse of me at finding I am your countryman 
instead of a foreigner, and a gentleman instead of a music- 
grinder. I shall do all you ask, and will protect you with my 
life." 

" This is so extraordinary ! — so unusual ! The whole coun- 
try appears unsettled ! Pray, sir, if you are not the person 
whom you have represented yourself to be, who are you ?" 

" One who admires your filial love and courage — who honors 
you for them both. I am the brother of your friend, Martha — 
I am Hugh Littlepage !" 

The little hand now abandoned the reins, and the dear girl 
turned half round on the cushion of the seat, gazing at me in 
mute astonishment ! I had been cursing in my heart the lank 
locks of the miserable wig I was compelled to wear, ever since 
T had met with Mary WaiTcn, as unnecessarily deforming and 
ugly, for one might have as well a becoming as a horridly un- 



T II K REDSKINS. 255 

bcoomiiig disguise. Oft" went my cap, therefore, and oft' went 
tlic wig after it, leaving my own shaggy curls for the sole setting 
of my face. 

Mary made a slight exclamation as she gazed at me, and the 
deadly paleness of her countenance was succeeded by a slight 
blush. A smile, too, parted her lips, and I fancied she was less 
alarmed. 

"Am I forgiven, Miss Warren," I asked ; " and will you re- 
cognize me for the brother of your friend ?" 

"Does Martha^does Mrs. Littlepage know of this?" the 
cliarming girl at length asked. 

"Both; I have had the happiness of being embraced by 
both my grandmother and my sister. You were taken out of 
the room, yesterday, by the first, that I might be left alone witli 
the last, for that very purpose !" 

" I see it all, now ; yes, I thought it singular then, though I 
felt there could be no impropriety in any of Mrs. Littlepage's 
acts. Dearest Martha ! how well she played her part, and how 
admirably she has kept your secret !" 

" It is very necessary. You see the condition of the country, 
and will understand that it would be imprudent in me to appear 
openly, even on my own estate. I have a written covenant 
authonzing me to visit every farm near us, to look after my own 
interests ; yet, it may be questioned if it would be safe to visit 
one among them all, now that the spirits of misrule and covet- 
ousness are up and doing." 

"Replace your disguise at once, Mr. Littlepage," said Mary, 
eagerly ; " do — do not delay an instant." 

I did as desired, Mary watching the process with interested, 
and, at the same time, amused eyes. I thought she looked as 
Borry as I felt myself when that lank, villanous wig y-as again 
performing its ofiice. 

" Am I as well arranged as when we first met. Miss Warren ? 
Do I appear again the music-grinder ?" 

" I see no difference," returned the dear girl, laughing. 
How musical and cheering to me were the sounds of her voice 



256 THE REDSKINS. 

in that little burst of sweet, feminine merriment. *' Indeed, in- 
deed, I do not think even Martha could know you noio, for the 
person you the moment before seemed." 

" My disguise is, then, perfect. I was in hopes it left a little 
that my friends might recognize, while it effectually concealed 
me from my enemies." 

"It does — oh ! it does. Now I know who you are, I find 
no difficulty in tracing in your features the resemblance to your 
portrait in the family gallery, at the Nest. The eyes, too, 
cannot be altered without artificial brows, and those you have 
not." 

This was consoling ; but all that time Mr. Warren and the 
party in front had been forgotten. Perhaps it was excusable 
in two young persons thus situated, and who had now known 
each other a week, to think more of what was just then passing 
in the wagon, than to recollect the tribe that was marching 
down the road, and the errand they Avere on. I felt the neces- 
sity, however, of next consulting my companion as to our future 
movements. Mary heard me in evident anxiety, and her pur- 
pose seemed unsettled, for she changed color under each new 
impulse of her feelings. 

" If it were not for one thing," she answered, after a thought- 
ful pause, *' I should insist on following my father." 

*' And what may be the reason of this change of purpose ?" 

" Would it be altogether safe for 7/021, Mr. Littlepage, to ven- 
ture again among those misguided men !" 

" Never think of me, Miss Warren. You sec I have been 
among them already undetected, and it is my intention to join 
them again, even should I fii-st have to take you home. Decide 
for yourself." 

" I will, then, follow my father. My presence may bo the 
means of saving him from some indignity." 

I was rejoiced at this decision, on two accounts ; of which 
one might have been creditable enough to me, while the other, 
I am sorry to say, Avas rather selfish. I delighted in the dear 
girl's devotion to her parent, and I was g'ad to have her com- 



THE REDSKINS. 257 

pany as long as possible that morning. Without ontoring into 
a very close analysis of motives, however, I drove down the 
road, keeping the horse on a very slow gait, being in no partic- 
ular hurry to quit my present fair companion. 

Mary and I had now a free, and, in some sense, a confiden- 
tial dialogue. Her manner toward me had entirely changed ; 
for, while it maintained the modesty and retenue of her sex and 
station, it displayed much of that frankness which was the 
natural consequence of her great intimacy at the Nest, and, as 
I have since ascertained, of her own ingenuous nature. The 
circumstance, too, that she now felt she was with one of her 
own class, who had opinions, habits, tastes and thoughts like 
her own, removed a mountain of restraint, and made hor com- 
munications natural and easy. I was near an hour, I do 
believe, in driving the two miles that lay between the point 
where the Injins had been met and the village, and in that 
lionr Mary Warren and I became better acquainted than 
would have been the case, under ordinary circumstances, in 
a year. 

In the first place, I explained the reasons and manners of my 
early and unexpected return home, and the motives by which 
I had been governed in thus coming in disguise on my own 
property. Then I said a little of my future intentions, and of 
my disposition to hold out to the last against every attempt on 
my rights, whether they might come from the open violence 
and unprincipled designs of those below, or the equally un- 
principled schemes of those above. A spurious liberty and 
political cant were things that I despised, as every intelligent 
and independent man must ; and I did not intend to be per- 
suaded I was an aristocrat, merely because I had the habits of 
a gentleman, at the very moment when I had less political in- 
fluence than the hired laborers in my own service. 

Mary Warren manifested a spirit and an intelligence that sur- 
prised me. She expressed her own belief that the proscribed 
classes of the country had only to be true to themselves to be 
restored to their just rights, and that on the very princi])lc by 



258 THE REDSKINS. 

wliicli they were so fast losing them. The opinions she thus 
expressed are worthy of being recorded. 

" Every thing that is done in that way," said this gentle, hut 
admirable creature, "has hitherto been done on a principle 
that is quite as false and vicious as that by which they are now 
oppressed. We have had a great deal written and said, lately, 
about uniting people of property, but it has been so evidently 
with an intention to make money rule, and that in its most 
vulgar and vicious manner, that persons of right feelings would 
not unite in such an effort ; but it does seem to me, Mr. Little- 
page, that if the gentlemen of New York would form themselves 
into an association in defence of their rights, and for nothing 
else, and let it be known that they would not be robbed with 
impunity, they are numerous enough and powerful enough to 
put down this anti-rent project by the mere force of numbers. 
Thousands would join them for the sake of principles, and the 
country might be left to the enjoyment of the fruits of liberty, 
without getting any of the fruits of its cant." 

This is a capital idea, and might easily be carried out. It 
requires nothing but a little self-denial, with the conviction of 
the necessity of doing something, if the downward tendency is 
to be ever checked short of civil war, and a revolution that is to 
let in despotism in its more direct form ; despotism, in the in- 
direct, is fast appearing among us, as it is. 

"I have heard of a proposition for the legislature to ap- 
point special commissioners, who are to settle all the difficulties 
between the landlords and the tenants," I remarked, "a 
scheme in the result of which some people profess to have a 
faith. I regard it as only one of the many projects that have 
been devised to evade the laws and institutions of the country, 
as they now exist." 

Mary Warren seemed thoughtful for a moment; then her eye 
and face brightened, as if she were struck with some thought 
suddenly ; after which the color deepened on her cheek, and 
she turned to me as if half doubting, and yet half desirous of 
giving utterance to the idea that was uppermost. 



THE REDSKINS. 250 

" You wish to say something, Miss. WaiTen ?" 

"I dare say it will be very silly — and I hope you won't 
think it pedantic in a girl, but really it does look so to 
me — what difFercnce would there be between such a commis- 
sion and the Star-Chamber judges of the Stuarts, Mr. Little- 
page ?" 

" Not much in general principles, certainly, as both would 
be the instruments of tyrants ; but a very important one in a 
great essential. The Star-Chamber courts were legal, whereas 
this commission would be flagrantly illegal ; the adoption of a 
special tribunal to efiect certain purposes that could exist onlj 
in the very teeth of the constitution, both in its spirit and its 
letter. Yet this project comes from men who prate about the 
' spirit of the institutions,' which they clearly understand to be 
their own spirit, let that be what it may." 

** Providence, I trust, will not smile on such desperate efforts 
to do wrong !" said Mary Warren, solemnly. 

" One hardly dare look into the inscrutable ways of a Power 
that has its motives so high beyond our reach. Providence 
permits much evil to be done, and is very apt to be, as Frederick 
of Prussia expressed it, on the side of strong battalions, so far as 
human vision can penetrate. Of one thing, however, I feel cer- 
tain, and that is, that they who are now the most eager to over- 
turn every thing to effect present purposes, will be made to re- 
pent of it bitterly, eitbcr in their own persons, or in those of 
their descendants." 

" That is what is meant, my father says, by visiting ' the sins 
of the fathers upon the children, unto the thii'd and fourth gen- 
orations.' But there is the party, with their prisoners, just en- 
tering the village. Who is your companion, Mr. Littlepage? — 
One hired to act as an assistant?" 

"It is my uncle himself. You have often heard, I should 
think, of Mr. Roger Littlepage ?" 

Mary gave a little exclamation at hearing this, and she almost 
laughed. After a short pause she blushed brightly, and turned 
to me as she said — 



2G0 THE REDSKINS. 

** And my fatber and I have supposed you, tlic one a peddler, 
and the other a street-musician !" 

" But beddlars and moosic-grinders of goot etications, as 
might be panished for deir bolitics." 

Now, indeed, she laughed out, for the long and frank dia- 
logue we had held together made this change to broken Eng- 
lish seem as if a third person had joined us. I profited by 
the occasion to exhort the dear girl to be calm, and not to feel 
any apprehension on the subject of her father. I pointed out 
how little probable it was that violence would be offered to a 
minister of the gospel, and showed her, by the number of per- 
sons that had collected in the village, that it was impossible he 
should not have many wann and devoted friends present. I 
also gave her permission to, nay, requested she would, tell Mr. 
Warren the fact of my uncle's and my own presence, and the 
reasons of our disguises, trusting altogether to the very obvious 
interest the dear girl took in our safety, that she would add, 
of her own accord, the necessary warning on the subject of 
secrecy. Just as this conversation ended wo drove into the 
hamlet, and I helped my fair companion to alight. 

Mary Warren now hastened to seek her father, while I was 
left to take care of the horse. This I did by fastening him to 
the rails of a fence, that was lined for a long distance by horses 
and Avagons drawn up by the wayside. Surprisingly few per- 
sons in the country, at this day, are seen on horseback. Not- 
Avithstanding the vast difference in the amount of the popula- 
tion, ten horsemen Avere to be met Avith forty years ago, by all 
accounts, on the highways of the state, for one to-day. The 
"well-knoAvn vehicle, called a dearborn, with its four light Avheels 
and mere shell of a box, is in such general use as to have 
superseded almost every other species of couA'cyance. Coaches 
and chariots are no longer met Avith, except in the towns ; and 
even the coachec, the English sociable, which Avas once so com- 
mon, has very generally given way to a sort of carriage- wagon, 
that seems a very general favorite. My grandmother, who did 
use the stately-looking and elegant chariot in town, had nothing 



THE UEUSKIKS. 201 

but this carriage-wagon in tlie country ; and I question if onc- 
lialf of the population of the state would know what to call the 
former vehicle, if they should see it. 

As a matter of course, the collection of people assembled at 
Little Nest on this occasion had been brought together in dear- 
borns, of which there must have been between two and three 
hundred lining the fences and crowding the horse-sheds of the 
two inns. The American countryman, in the true sense of the 
word, is still quite rustic in many of his notions ; though, on 
the whole, less marked in this particular than his European 
counterpart. As the rule, he has yet to learn that the little 
liberties which are tolerated in a thinly -peopled district, and 
which are of no great moment when put in practice under such 
circumstances, become oppressive and offensive when reverted 
to in places of much resort. The habits of popular control, 
too, come to aid in making them fancy that what every body 
does in their part of the country can have no great harm in it. 
It was in conformity with this tendency of the institutions, per- 
haps, that very many of the vehicles I have named were thrust 
into improper places, stopping up the footways, impeding the 
entrances to doors, here and there letting down bars without 
permission, and garnishing orchards and pastures with one- 
horse wagons. Nothing was meant by all these liberties be- 
yond a desire to dispose of the hoi'ses and vehicles in the 
manner easiest to their owners. Nevertheless, there was some 
connection between the institutions and these little liberties 
which some statesmen might fancy existed in the sjnrit of the 
former. This, however, was a capital mistake, inasmuch as the 
spirit of the institutions is to be found in the laws, which pro- 
hibit and punish all sorts of trespasses, and which are enacted 
expressly to curb the tendencies of human nature ! No, no, as 
my uncle Ro says, nothing can be less alike, sometimes, than 
^he spirit of institutions and their tendencies. 

I was surprised to find nearly as many females as men had 
collected at the Little Nest on this occasion. As for the Lijiiis, 
after escorting Mr. Warren as far as the village, as if signiti- 



262 THE REDSKINS. 

cantly to admonish him of tlieir presence, they had quietly 
released him, permitting him to go where he pleased. Mary 
had no difficulty in finding him, and I saw her at his side, 
apparently in conversation with Opportunity and her brother, 
Seneca, as soon as I moved down the road, after securing the 
horses. The Injins themselves kept a little aloof, having my 
uncle in their very centre ; not as a prisoner, for it was cleai no 
one suspected his character, hut as a peddler. The watches 
were out again, and near half of the whole gang seemed busy 
in trading, though I thought that some among them were anx- 
ious and distrustful. 

It was a singular spectacle to see men who were raising the 
cry of " aristocracy" against those who happened to be richer 
than themselves, while they did not possess a single privilege 
or power that, substantially, was not equally shared by every 
other man in the country, thus openly arrayed in defiance of 
law, and thus violently trampling the law under their feet. 
What made the spectacle more painful was the certainty that 
was obtained by their very actions on the ground, that no small 
portion of these Injins were mere boys, led on by artful and 
knavish men, and who considered the whole thing as a joke. 
Wlien the laws fall so much into disrepute as to be the subjects 
of jokes of this sort, it is time to inquire into their mode of 
administration. Does any one believe that fifty landlords could 
have thus flown into the face of a recent enactment, and com- 
mitted felony openly, and under circumstances that had render- 
ed their intentions no secret, for a time long enough to enable 
the authorities to collect a force sufficient to repress them ? My 
own opinion is, that had Mr. Stephen Rensselaer, and Mr. Wil- 
liam Rensselaer, and Mr. Harry Livingston, and Mr. John 
Hunter, and Mr. Daniel Livingston, and Mr. Hugh Littlepage, 
and fifty more that I could name, been caught armed and dis- 
guised, in order to defend the rights of property that are 
solemnly guaranteed in these institutions, of which it would 
seem to be the notion of some that it is the "spirit" to dis- 
possess them, we should all of us have been the inmates of 



THE llEDSKINS. 2G3 

states' prisons, without legislators troubling themselves to pass 
laws for our liberation ! This is another of the extraordinary 
features of American aristocracy, which almost deprives the 
noble of the cvcry-day use and benefit of the law. It would be 
worth our while to lose a moment in inquiring into the process 
I J which such strange results are brought about, but it is for- 
tunately rendered unnecessary by the circumstance that the 
principle will be amply developed in the course of the narra- 
tive. 

A stranger could hardly have felt the real character of this 
meeting by noting the air and manner of those who had come 
to attend it. The " armed and disguised" kept themselves in 
a body, it is true, and maintained, in a slight degree, the ap- 
pearance of distinctness from " the people," but many of the 
latter stopped to speak to these men, and were apparently on 
good terms Avith them. Not a few of the gentler sex, even, 
appeared to have acquaintances in the gang ; and it would 
liave struck a political philosopher from the other hemisphere 
with some surprise, to have seen the "people" thus tolerating 
fellows who were openly trampling on a law that the " people" 
themselves had just enacted? A political philosopher from 
among ourselves, however, might have explained the seeming 
contradiction by referring it to the "spirit of the institutions." 
If one were to ask Hugh Littlepage to solve the difficulty, he 
would have been very apt to answer that the "people" of 
Ravensnest wanted to compel him to sell lands which he did 
not wish to sell, and that not a few of them were anxious to add 
to the compulsory bargains conditions as to price that would 
rob him of about one-half of his estate ; and that what the Al- 
bany philosophers called the "spirit of the institutions," was, in 
fact, a "spirit of the devil," Avhich the institutions were express- 
ly designed to hold in subjection ! 

There was a good deal of out-door management going on, as 
might be seen by the private discussions that were held between 
pairs, under what is called the "horse-shedding," process. 
This " horse-shedding" process, T understand, is well known 



26-i THE KED SKINS. 

among us, and extends not only to politics, but to the adminis- 
tration of justice. Your regular " horse-sliedder" is employed 
to frequent taverns where jurors stay, and drop hints before 
them touching the merits of causes known to be on the calen- 
dars ; possibly contrives to get into a room with six or eight 
beds, in which there may accidentally be a juror, or even two, 
in a bed, when he drops into a natural conversation on the 
merits of some matter at issue, praises one of the parties, while 
he drops dark hints to the prejudice of the other, and makes 
his own representations of the facts in a way to scatter the seed 
where he is morally certain it will take root and grow. All 
this time he is not conversing with a juror, not he ; he is only 
assuming the office of the judge by anticipation, and dissecting 
evidence before it has been given, in the ear of a particular 
friend. It is true there is a law against doing any thing of the 
sort ; it is true there is law to punish the editor of a newspaper 
who shall publish any thing to prejudice the interests of liti- 
gants ; it is true the " horse-shedding process" is flagrantly 
wicked, and intended to destroy most of the benefits of the 
jury system; but, notwithstanding all this, the "spirit of the 
institutions" carries every thing before it, and men regard all 
these laws and provisions, as well as the eternal principles of 
right, precisely as if they had no existence at all, or as if a frec- 
inan were above the law. He makes the law, and why should 
he not break it? Here is another effect of the "spirit of the 
institutions." 

At length the bell rang, and the crowd began to move to- 
ward the " meetin'-'us'." This building was not that which 
had been originally constructed, and at the raising of which I 
have heard it said, my dear old grandmother, then a lovely and 
spirited girl of nineteen, had been conspicuous for her coolness 
and judgment, but a far more pretending successor. The old 
building had been constructed on the true model of the highest 
dissenting spirit — a spirit that induced its advocates to quarrel 
with good taste as well as religious dogmas, in order to make 
the chasm as wide as possible — while in this, some concessions 



THE REDSKINS 2G5 

had been made to the temper of the times. I very well remem- 
ber the old " meetin'-'us'" at the "Little Nest," for it was 
pulled down to give place to its more pretending successor 
after I had attained my sixteenth year. A description of both 
may let the reader into the secret of our rural church archi- 
tecture. 

The "old Neest meetin'-'us'/' like its successor, was of a 
hemlock frame, covered with pine clapboards, and painted 
white. Of late years, the paint had been of a most fleeting 
quality, the oil seeming to evaporate, instead of striking in and 
setting, leaving the coloring matter in a somewhat decomposed 
condition, to rub off by friction and wash away in the rains. 
The house was a stiff, formal parallelogram, resembling a man 
with high shoulders, appearing to be "stuck up." It had two 
rows of formal, short and ungraceful windows, that being a 
point in orthodoxy at the period of its erection. It had a 
tower, uncouth, and in some respects too large and others too 
small, if one can reconcile the contradiction ; but there are 
anomalies of this sort in art, as well as in nature. On top of 
this tower stood a long-legged belfry, which had got a very 
dangerous, though a very common, propensity in ecclesiastical 
matters ; in other words, it had begun to " cant." It was this 
diversion from the perpendicular which had suggested the ne- 
cessity of erecting a new edifice, and the building in which the 
" lecture" on feudal tenures and aristocracy was now to be de- 
livered. 

The new meeting-house at Little Nest was a much more pre- 
tending edifice than its predecessor. It was also of wood, but 
a bold diverging from " first principles" had been ventured on, 
not only in physical, but in the moral church. The last was 
"new-school;" as, indeed, was the first. AVhat "new-school" 
means, in a spiritual sense, I do not exactly know, but I sup- 
pose it to be some improvement on some other improvement 
of the more ancient and venerable dogmas of the sect to which 
it belongs. These improvements on improvements are rather 
common, among us, and arc favorably \icwed by a great num- 
12 



266 THE REDSKINS. 

ber under the name of progress ; tliougli he who stands at a 
little distance can, half the time, discover that the parties in 
progress very often come out at the precise spot from which 
they started. 

For my part, I find so much wisdom in the Bible — so pro- 
found a knowledge of human nature, and of its tendencies — 
counsel so comprehensive and so safe, and this solely in refer- 
ence to the things of this life, that I do not believe every thing 
is progress in the right direction because it sets us in motion on 
paths that are not two thousand years old ! I believe that we 
have quite as much that ought to be kept, as of that which 
ought to be thrown away ; and while I admit the vast number 
of abuses that have grown up in the old world, under the 
"spirit of their institutions," as our philosophers would say, I 
can see a goodly number that are also growing up here, cer- 
tainly not under the same "spirit," unless we refer them both, 
as a truly wise man would, to our common and miserable 
nature. 

The main departure from first principles, in the sense of ma- 
terial things, was in the fact that the new meeting-house had 
only one row of windows, and that the windows of that row had 
the pointed arch. The time has been when this circumstanco 
would have created a schism in the theological world ; and I 
hope that my youth and inexperience will be pardoned, if I re- 
spectfully suggest that a pointed arch, or any other arch in 
wood, ought to create another in the world of taste. 

But in we went, men, women and children ; uncle Eo, Mr. 
"Warren, Mary, Seneca, Opportunity, and all, the Injins ex- 
cepted. For some reason connected with their policy, those 
savages remained outside, until the Avhole audience had assem- 
bled in grave silence. The orator was in, or on, a sort of stage, 
which was made, under the new-light system in architecture, to 
supersede the old, inconvenient, and ugly pulpit, supported on 
each side by two divines, of what denomination I shall not take 
on myself to say. It will be sufficient if I add, Mr. Warren 
was not one of them. He and Mary had taken their seats 



THE REDSKINS. 267 

quite near the door, and under the gallery. I saw that the 
rector was uneasy the moment the lecturer and his two support- 
ers entered the pulpit and appeared on the stage ; and at length 
he arose, and, followed by Mary, he suddenly left the building. 
In an instant I was at their side, for it struck me indisposition 
was the cause of so strange a movement. Fortunately, at this 
moment, the whole audience rose in a body, and one of the 
ministers commenced an extempore prayer. 

At that instant, the Injins had drawn themselves up around 
the building, close to its sides, and under the open windows, in 
a position that enabled them to hear all that passed. As I 
afterward learned, this arrangement was made with an under- 
standing with those within, one of the ministers having posi- 
tively refused to address the throne of grace so long as any of 
the tribe were present. "Well has it been said, that man often 
strains at a gnat, and swallows a camel ! 



268 THE REDSKINS, 



CHAPTER XV. 

" I tell tliee, Jack Cade, the clothier moans to dress the commonwealth, and tura 
It, and put a new nap upon it." Kino Henbt VI. 

As I knew Mary must have communicated to her father my 
real name, I did not hesitate, as I ought to have done in my 
actual dress and in my assumed character, about following 
them, in order to inquire if I could be of any service. I never 
saw distress more strongly painted in any man's countenance 
than it was in that of Mr. Warren, when I approached. So 
very obvious, indeed, was his emotion, that I did not venture to 
obtrude myself on him, but followed in silence ; and he and 
Mary slowly walked, side by side, across the street to the stoop 
of a house, of which all the usual inmates had probably gone in 
the other direction. Here Mr. Warren took a seat, Mary still 
at his side, while I drew near, standing before him. 

*' I thank you, Mr. Littlepage," the divine at length said, with 
a smile so painful it was almost haggard, " for, so Mary tells me 
you should be called — I thank you for this attention, sir — but, 
it will -be over in another minute — I feel better now, and shall 
be able to command myself." 

No more was then said, concerning the reason of this dis- 
tress ; but Mary has since explained to me its cause. When 
her father went into the meeting-house, he had not the smallest 
idea that any thing like a religious service would be dragged 
into the ceremonies of such a day. The two ministers on the 
stafe first gave him the alarm ; when a most painful struggle 
occurred in his mind, whether or not he should remain, and be 
a party to the mockery of addressing God in prayer, in an 
assembly collected to set at naught one of the plainest of his 



THE REDSKINS. 269 

laws — nay, witli banded felons drawn up around the building, 
as principal actors in the whole mummery. The alternative 
was for him, a minister of the altar, to seem to quit those who 
were about to join in prayer, and to do this moreover under 
circumstances which might appear to others as if he rejected all 
worship but that which was in accordance with his own views 
of right, a notion that would be certain to spread far and near, 
greatly to the prejudice of his own people. But the first, as ho 
viewed the matter, involved a species of blasphemy ; and yield- 
ing to his feelings, he took the decided step he had, intending 
to remain out of the building, until the more regular business of 
the day commenced. 

It is certain Mr. Warren, Avho acted under the best impulse 
of Christian feeling, a reverence for God, and a profound wish 
not to be a party in offending him with the mockery of worship 
under such circumstances, has lost much influence, and made 
many enemies, by the step he then took. The very same feel- 
ing Avhich has raised the cry of aristocracy against every gen- 
tleman who dwells in suflSciently near contact with the masses 
to distinguish his habits from those around him ; which in- 
duces the eastern emigrant, who comes from a state of society 
where there are no landlords, to fancy those he finds here ought 
to be pulled down, because he is not a landlord himself; Avhich 
enables the legislator to stand up in his place, and unblushing- 
ly talk about feudal usages, at the very instant he is demonstra- 
ting that equal rights are denied to those he would fain stigma- 
tize as feudal lords, has extended to religion, and the church of 
which Mr. Warren was a minister, is very generally accused of 
being aristocratic, too ! This charge is brought because it has 
claims which other churches affect to renounce and reject as 
forming no part of the faith ; but the last cannot remain easy 
under their ovm decision ; and while they shout, and sing that 
they have found " a church without a bishop," they hate the 
church that has a bishop, because it has something they do 
not possess themselves, instead of pitying its deluded members, 
if they believe them wrong. This will not be admitted gener 



270 THE UEDSKINS. 

ally, but it is nevertheless true ; and betrays itself in a hundred 
ways. It is seen in the attempt to call 4heir own priests bishops, 
in the feehng so manifest whenever a cry can be raised against 
their existence, and in the general character of these theological 
rallies, whenever they do occur. 

For one, I see a close analogy between my own church, as it 
exists in this country, and comparing it with that from which 
it sprung, and to those which surround it, and the true political 
circumstances of the two hemispheres. In discarding a vast 
amount of surplusage, in reducing the orders of the ministry, 
in practice as well as in theory, to their primitive number, 
three, and in rejecting all connection with the state, the Amer- 
ican branch of the Episcopal Church has assumed the position 
it Avas desirous to fill ; restoring, as near as may be, the sim- 
plicity of the apostolical ages, while it does not disregard the 
precepts and practices of the apostles themselves. It has not 
set itself above antiquity and authority, but merely endeavored 
to sustain them, without the encumbrances of more modern 
abuses. Thus, too, has it been in political things. No attempt 
has been made to create new organic social distinctions in this 
country, but solely to disencumber those that are inseparable 
from the existence of all civilized society, of the clumsy machi- 
nery with w'aich the expedients of military oppressors had in- 
vested them. The real sages of this country, in founding its 
institutions, no more thought of getting rid of the landlords of 
the country, than the church thought of getting rid of its 
bishops. The first knew that the gradations of property were 
an inevitable incident of civilization ; that it would not be wise, 
if it were possible, to prevent the affluent from making largo 
investments in the soil ; and that this could not be done in 
practice, without leaving the relation of landlord and tenant. 
Because landlords, in other parts of the world, possessed privi- 
leges that were not necessary to the natural or simple existence 
of the character, was no reason for destroying the character 
itself ; any more than the fact that the bishops of England pos- 
sess an authority the apostles knew nothing of, rendered it oro* 



THE llED SKINS. 271 

per for the American brancli of tlic cliurch to do away with an 
office that came from the apostles. But, envy and jealousy do 
not pause to reflect on such things ; it is enough for them, in 
the one case, that you and yours have estates and occupy social 
positions, that I and mine do not, and cannot easily, occupy 
and possess ; therefore I will oppose you, and join my voice to 
the cry of those who wish to get their farms for nothing ; and 
in the other, that you have bishops when wo can have none, 
without abandoning our present organization and doctrines. 

I dwell on these points at some little length, because the 
movement of Mr. Warren and myself, at that moment, had a 
direct influence on the circumstances that will soon be related. 
It is probable that fully one-half of those collected in the Little 
Nest meeting-house, that morning, as they stood up, and lent a 
sort of one-sided and listless attention to the prayer, were 
thinking of the scandalous and aristocratical conduct of Mr. 
Warren, in " goin' out o' meetin' just as meetin' went to 
prayers !" Few, indeed, were they who would be likely to 
ascribe any charitable motive for the act ; and probably not one 
of those present thought of the true and conscientious feeling 
that had induced it. So the world wags ! It is certain that a 
malignant and bitter feeling was got up against the worthy rec- 
tor on that occasion, and for that act, which has not yet abated^ 
and which will not abate in many hundreds, until the near ap- 
proach of death shall lay bare to them the true character of so 
many of their own feelings. 

It was some minutes before Mr. Warren entirely regained his 
composure. At length he spoke to me, in his usual benevolent 
and mild way, saying a few words that were comphmentary, on 
the subject of my rctuni, while he expressed his fears that my 
uncle Ro and myself had been imprudent in thus placing our- 
selves, as it might be, in the lion's jaws. 

" You have certainly made your disguises so complete," he 
added, smiling, "as to have escaped wonderfully well so far. 
That you should deceive Mary and myself is no great matter, 
since neither of us ever saw you before ; but, the manner in 



272 THE REDSKINS. 

which your nearest relatives have been misled, is surprising. 
Nevertheless, you have every inducement to be cautious, for hati'ed 
and jealousy have a penetration that does not belong even to love." 

"We think Ave are safe, sir," I answered, "for we are cer- 
tainly within the statute. We are too Avell aware of our miser- 
able aristocratical condition to place ourselves within the grasp 
of the law, for such are our eminent privileges as a landed 
nobility, that we are morally certain either of us would not only 
be sent to the state's prison were he to be guilty of the felony 
those Injins are committing, and will commit, with perfect im- 
punity, but that he would be kept there, as long as a single tear 
of anguish could be wrung from one of those who are classed 
Avith the aristocracy. Democracy alone finds any sympathy in 
the ordinary administration of American justice." 

" I am afraid that your irony has only too much truth in it. 
But the movement around the building Avould seem to say that 
the real business of the day is about to commence, and we had 
better return to the church." 

" Those men in disguise are Avatching us, in a most unpleas- 
ant and alarming manner," said Mary Warren, delighting me 
far more by the vigilance she thus manifested in my behalf, than 
alarming me by the fact. 

That Ave Avere watched, hoAvever, became obviously apparent, 
as we walked toward the building, by the actions of some of 
the Injins. They had left the side of the church where they 
had posted themselves during the prayer, and head was going 
to head, among those nearest to us ; or, it would be nearer to 
appearances, were I to say bunch of calico was going to bunch 
of calico, for nothing in the form of a head was visible among 
them. Nothing was said to Mr. Warren and Mary, however, 
Avho were permitted to go into the meeting-house, unmolested ; 
but tAvo of these disguised gentry placed themselves before me, 
laying their rifles across my path, and completely intercepting 
my advance. 

" Who you ?" abruptly demanded one of the two ; — " Avhcrc 
so — Avhere come from !" 



THE UEDSKINS. 2*73 

The answer was ready, and I trast was sufficiently steady. 

" I cooincs from Charmany, und I goes into der kercli, 
as dey say in mine coontry ; what might be callet a meetin'-'ns, 
here." 

What might have followed, it is not easy to say, had not tho 
oud, declamatory voice of the lecturer just then been heard, as 
ne commenced his address. This appeared to be a signal for 
the tribe to make some movement, for the two fellows who had 
stopped me, walked silently away, though bag of calico went 
to bag of calico, as they trotted off together, seemingly com- 
municating to each other their suspicions. I took advantage 
of the opening, and passed into the church, where I worked 
my way through the throng, and got a seat at my uncle's 
side. 

I have neither time, room, nor inclination to give any thing 
like an analysis of the lecture. The speaker was fluent, in- 
flated, and any thing but logical. Not only did he contradict 
himself, but he contradicted the laws of nature. The intelli- 
gent reader Avill not require to be reminded of the general 
character of a speech that was addressed to the passions and 
interests of such an audience, rather than to their reason. He 
commented, at first, on the particular covenants of the leases 
on the old estates of the colony, alluding to the quarter-sales, 
chickens, days' work, and durable tenures, in the customary 
way. The reservation of the mines, too, was mentioned as a 
tyrannical covenant, precisely as if a landlord were obliged to 
convey any more of the rights that were vested in him, than he 
saw tit; or the tenant could justly claim more than he had 
liired ! This man treated all these branches of the subject, as 
if the tenants had acquired certain mysterious interests by time 
and occupation, overlooking the fact that the one party got just 
as good a title as the other by this process ; the lease being tho 
instrument between them, that was getting to be venerable. If 
one party grew old as a tenant, so did the other as a landlord. 
I thought that this lecturer would have been glad to confine 
himself to the Manor leases, that being the particular branch 



274 THE REDSKINS. 

of the subject he had been accustomed to treat ; but, such wa3 
not the precise nature of the job he was now employed to exe- 
cute. At Ravensnest, he could not flourish the feudal griev- 
ance of the quarter-sales, the "four fat fowls," the "days' 
works," and the length of the leases. Here it was clearly his 
cue to say nothing of the three first, and to complain of the 
shortness of the leases, as mine were about to fall in, in consid- 
erable numbers. Finding it was necessary to take new ground, 
he determined it should be bold ground, and such as would 
give him the least trouble to get along with. 

As soon as the lecturer had got through Avith his general 
heads, and felt the necessity of coming down to particulars, he 
opened upon the family of Littlepage, in a very declamatory 
way. What had they ever done for the country, he demanded, 
that they should be lords in the land? By some process known 
to himself, he had converted landlords into lords in the land, 
and was now aiming to make the tenants occupy the latter sta- 
tion — nay, both stations. Of course, some services of a pub- 
lic character, of which the Littlepages might boast, were not 
touched upon at all, every thing of that nature being compressed 
into Avhat the lecturer and his audience deemed serving the 
people, by helping to indulge them in all their desires, however 
rapacious or wicked. As every body who knows any thing of 
the actual state of matters among us, must be aware how rarely 
the "people" hear the truth, when their own power and inter- 
ests are in question, it is not surprising that a very shallow rea- 
soner was enabled to draw wool over the eyes of the audience 
of Ravensnest on that particular subject. 

But my interest was most awakened when this man came to 
speak of myself. It is not often that a man enjoys the same 
opportunity as that I then possessed to hear his own character 
delineated, and his most private motives analyzed. In the first 
place, the audience were told that this "young Hugh Little- 
page had never done any thing for the land that he proudly, 
and like a great European noble, calls his ' estate.' Most of 
you, fellow-citizens can shoAV your hard hands, and recall tho 



THE REDSKINS. 275 

burning suns under which you have opened the swarth, through 
those then lovely meadows yonder, as your titles to these farms. 
But, Hugh Littlepage never did a day's work in his life" — ten 
minutes before he had been complaining of the " days' work" 
in the Manor leases as indignities that a freeman ought not to 
submit to — " no, fellow-citizens, he never had that honor, and 
never w ill have it, until by a just division of his property, or 
what he now calh his property, you reduce him to the necessity 
of laboring to raise the crops he wants to consume." 

"Where is this Hugh Littlepage at this very moment ? In 
Paris, squandering your hard earnings in riotous living, accord- 
ing to the best standards of aristocracy. He lives in the midst 
of abundance, dresses richly and fares richly, while you and 
yours are eating the sweat of your brows. He is no man for a 
pewter spoon and two-pronged fork ? No, my countrymen ! 
He must have a gold spoon for some of his dishes, and you will 
find it hard to believe — plain, unpretending, republican farmers 
as you are, but it is not the less true — he must have forks of 
silver! Fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage would not put his 
knife into his mouth, as you and I do, in eating — as all plain, 
unpretending republicans do — for the world. It would choke 
him ; no, he keeps silver forks to touch his anointed lips !" 
Here there was an attempt to get up something like applause, 
but it totally failed. The men of Ravensnest had been accus- 
tomed all their lives to see the Littlepages in the social station 
they occupied ; and, after all, it did not seem so very extraor- 
dinary that w^e should have silver forks, any more than that 
others should have silver spoons. The lecturer had the tact to 
see that he had failed on this point, and he turned to another. 

The next onset was made against our title. Whence did it 
come ? demanded the lecturer. From the king of England ; 
and the people had conquered the country from that sovereign, 
and put themselves in his place. Now, is it not a good prin- 
ciple in politics, that to the victors belong the spoils ? He 
believed it w as ; and that in conquering America, he was of 
opinion that the people of America had conquered the land, and 



270 THE REDSKINS. 

that they had a right to take the land, and to Icccp it. Titles 
from kings he did not respect much; and he believed the 
American people, generally, did not think much of them. If 
Hugh Littlepage Avished an " estate," as he called it, let him 
come to the people and "starve them,'''' and see what sort of an 
estate thc7j would give him. 

But there was one portion of his speech which was so re- 
markable, that I must attempt to give it as it was uttered. It 
was while the lecturer was expatiating on this subject of titles, 
that he broke out in the following language : — " Don't talk to 
me," he bellowed — for by this time his voice had risen to the 
pitch of a Methodist's in a camp-meeting — "Don't talk to me 
of antiquity, and time, and length of possession, as things to 
be respected. They're nawthin' — ^jest nawthin' at all. Posses- 
sion's good in law, I'll admit ; and I contind that's jest what 
the tenants has. They've got the lawful possession of this very 
property, that layeth (not eggs, but) up and down, far and 
near, and all ai'ound ; a rich and goodly heritage, when divided 
up among hard-Avorking and honest folks ; but too much, by 
tens of thousands of acres, for a young chap, who is wasting 
his substance in foreign lands, to hold. I contind that the 
tenants has this very precise, lawful possession, at this blessed 
moment, only the law won't let 'cm enj'y it. It's all owing to 
that accursed law, that the tenant can't set up a title ag'in his 
landlord. You see by this one fact, fellow-citizens, that they 
are a privileged class, and ought to be brought down to the 
level of gin'ral humanity. You can set up title ag'in any body 
else, but you shan't set up title ag'in a landlord. I know what 
is said in the primisis," shaking his head, in derision of any 
arguments on the other side of this particular point ; "I know 
that circumstances alter cases. I can see the hardship of one 
neighbor's coming to another, and asking to borrow or hire his 
horse for a day, and then pretendin' to hold him on some other 
ketch. But horses isn't land ; you must all allow that. No, 
if horses was land, the case would be altered. Land is an ele- 
ment, and so is fire, and so is water, and so is air. Now, who 



THE REDSKINS. 277 

will say that a freeman hasn't a right to air, hasn't a right to 
water, and, on the same process, hasn't a right to land ? lie 
has, fellow-citizens — he has. These are what are called in 
philosophy elementary rights ; which is the same thing as a 
right to the elements, of which land is one, and a principal 
one. I say a principal one ; for, if there was no land to stand 
on, we should drop away from air, and couldn't enj'y that ; we 
should lose all our water in vapor, and couldn't put it to millin' 
and manafacterin' purposes ; and where could we build our 
fires ? No ; land is the Jiist elementary right, and connected 
with it comes the first and most sacred right to the elements. 

"I do not altogether disregard antiquity, neither. No; I 
respect and revere pre-emption rights ; for they fortify and 
sustain the right to the elements. Now, I do not condemn 
squattin' as some does. It's actin' accordin' to natur', and 
natur' is right. I respect and venerate a squatter's posses- 
sion ; for it's held under the sacred principle of usefulness. It 
says, *Go and make the wilderness blossom as the rose,' and 
means * progress.' That's an antiquity I respect. I respect 
the antiquity of your possessions here, as tenants; for it is a 
hard-working and useful antiquity — an antiquity that increases 
and multiplies. If it be said that Hugh Littlepage's ancestors — 
your noble has his 'ancestors,' while us 'common folks' are 
satisfied with forefathers" — [this hit took with a great many 
present, raising a very general laugh] — "but if this Hugh's 
ancestors did pay any thing for the laud, if I was you, fellow- 
citizens, I'd be gin'rous, and let him have it back ag'in. Per- 
haps his forefathers gave a cent an acre to the king — may be 
two; or say sixpence, if you will. I'd let him have his six- 
pence an acre back again, by way of shutting his mouth. No ; 
I'm for nawthin' that's ungin'rous." 

" Fellow-citizens, I profess to be what is called a democi'at. 
I know that many of you be what is called whigs; but I appre- 
hend there isn't much difference between us on the subject of 
this system of leasing land. We arc all republicans, and leading 
farms is anti-republican. Then, I wish to be liberal cveii to 



2^8 THE REDSKINS. 

tliem I commonly oppose at elections, and I will freely admit, 
then, on the whull, the wliigs have rather outdone us demo- 
crats, on the subject of this anti-rentism. I am sorry to be 
obliged to own in it, but it must be confessed that, while in the 
way of governors there hasn't been much difference — yes, put 
'em in a bag, and shake 'em up, and you'd hardly know which 
would come out first — which has done himself the most im- 
mortal honor, which has shown himself the most comprehensive, 
profound, and safe statesman ; I know that some of our people 
complain of the governors for ordering out troops ag'in the 
Injins, but they could not help that — they wouldn't have done 
it, in my judgment, had there been any way of getting round 
it ; but the law was too strong for them, so they druv' in the 
Injins, and now they join us in putting down aristocracy, and 
in raising up gin'ral humanity. No ; I don't go ag'in the 
governors, though many does. 

"But I profess to be a democrat, and I'll give an outline of 
my principles, that all may see why they can't, and don't, and 
never will agree with aristocracy or nobility, in any form or 
shape. I believe one man is as good as another in all things. 
Neither birth, nor law, nor edication, nor riches, nor poverty, 
nor any thing else, can ever make any difference in this prin- 
ciple, which is sacred and fundamental, and is the chief stone 
of the corner in true democracy. One man is as good as an- 
other, I say, and has just the same right to the enj'yment of 
'arth and its privileges, as any other man. I think the majority 
ought to rule in all things, and that it is the duty of the minority 
to submit. Now, I've had this here sentiment thrown back 
upon me, in some places where I have spoken, and been asked, 
' how is this — the majority must mle, and the minority must 
submit — in that case, the minority isn't as good as the majority 
in practice, and hasn't the same right. They are made to own 
what they think ought not to be done V The answer to this 
is so plain, I wonder a sensible man can ask the question, for 
all the minority has to do, is to join the majority, to have things 
as they want 'em. The road is free, and it is this open road 



THE UEDSKINS. 279 

that makes true liberty. Any man can fall in Avith the majority, 
and sensible folks commonly do, when they can find it, and that 
makes a person not only a man, as the saying is, but a fiiee- 
MAN, a still more honorable title. 

"Fellow-citizens, a great movement is in progress. *Go 
ahead!' is the cr)% and the march is onward; our thoughts 
already fly about on the wings of the lightning, and our bodies 
move but little slower, on the vapor of steam — soon our prin- 
(;iples will rush ahead of all, and let in the radiance of a glori- 
ous day of universal reform, and loveliness, and virtue and 
charity, when the odious sound of rent will never be heard, 
when every man will sit down under his own apple, or cherry 
tree, if not under his own fig-tree. 

"I am a democrat — yes, a democrat. Glorious appella- 
tion ! I delight in it ! It is my pride, my boast, my very 
virtue. Let but the people truly rule, and all must come well. 
The people has no temptation to do wrong. If they hurt the 
state, they hurt themselves, for they are the state. Is a man 
likely to hurt himself? Equality is my axiom. Nor, by 
equality, do I mean your narrow pitiful equality before the 
law, as it is sometimes tarmed, for that may be no equality at 
all; but, I mean an equality that is substantial, and which must 
be restored, when the working of the law has deranged it. 
Fellow-citizens, do you know what leap-year means? I dare 
say some of you don't, the ladies in partic'lar not giving much 
attention to astronomy. Well, I have inquired, and it is this : 
The 'arth revolves around the sun in a year, as we all know. 
And we count three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, we 
all know. But the 'arth is a few hours longer than three hun- 
dred and sixty-five days in making its circuit — nearly six hours 
longer. Now every body knows that four tunes six makes 
twenty-four, and so a twenty-ninth day is put into February, 
every fourth year, to restore the lost time; another change 
being to be made a long distance ahead to settle the fractions. 
Thus will it be with democracy. Human natur' can't devise 
laws yet, that will keep all things on an exactly equal footing, 



280 THE REDSKINS. 

and political leap-years must be introduced into tlie political 
calendar, to restore tlie equilibrium. In astronomy, we must 
divide up anew the hours and minutes ; in humanity, Ave must, 
from time to time, divide up the land." 

But I cannot follow this inflated fool any longer ; for he was 
quite as much of fool as of knave, though partaking largely of 
the latter character. It was plain that he carried many of his 
notions much further than a good portion of his audience 
carried theirs ; though, whenever he touched upon anti-rent- 
ism, he hit a chord that vibrated through the whole assembly. 
Tliat the tenants ought to own their farms, and pay no more 
rents, and pocket all the benefits of their own previous 

LABORS, THOUGH THESE LABORS HAD BEEN CONSIDERED IN THE 
earlier rents, and were, indeed, STILL CONSIDERED, IN THE 
LOW RATES AT WHICH THE LANDS WERE LET, WaS a doctrinC all 

could understand ; and few were they, I am sorry to say, who 
did not betray how much self-love and self-interest had obscured 
the sense of right. 

The lecture, such as it was, lasted more than two hours ; and 
when it was done, an individual rose, in the character of a 
chairman — when did three Americans ever get together to dis- 
cuss any thing, that they had not a chairman and secretary, and 
all the parliamentary forms ? — and invited any one present, who 
might entertain views different from the speaker, to give his 
opinion. Never before did I feel so tempted to speak in public. 
My first impulse was to throw away the wig, and come out in 
my own person, and expose the shallow trash that had just 
been uttered. I believe even I, unaccustomed as I was to public 
speaking, could easily have done this, and I whispered as much 
to my uncle, who was actually on his feet, to perform the office 
for me, when the sound of "Mr. Chairman," from a different 
part of the church, anticipated him. Looking round, I recog- 
nized at once the face of the intelligent mechanic, named Hall, 
whom we had met at Mooseridge, on our way to the Nest. I 
took my seat at once, perfectly satisfied that the subject was in 
good hands. 



THE REDSKINS. 281 

This speaker commenced -with great moderation, botli of 
manner and tone, and, indeed, he preserved them throughout. 
His utterance, accent and language, of course, were all tinc- 
tured by his habits and associations ; but his good sense and 
his good principles were equally gifts from above. More of the 
" true image of his Maker" was to be found in that one individ- 
ual than existed in fifty common men. He saw clearly, spoke 
clearly, and demonstrated effectively. As he was well known 
in that vicinity and generally respected, he was listened to with 
profound attention, and spoke like a man who stood in no dread 
of tar and feathers. Had the same sentiments been delivered 
by one in a fine coat, and a stranger, or even by myself, who 
had so much at stake, very many of them would have been in- 
continently set down as aristocratic, and not to be tolerated, the 
most sublimated lover of equality occasionally falling into these 
little contradictions. 

Hall commenced by reminding the audience that they all 
knew him, and knew he was no landlord. He was a mechanic, 
and a laboring man, like most of themselves, and had no interest 
that could be separated from the general good of society. This 
opening was a little homage to prejudice, since reason is reason, 
and right right, let them come whence they Avill. '* I, too, am 
a democrat," he went on to say, "but I do not understand 
democracy to mean any thing like that which has been de- 
scribed by the last speaker. I tell that gentleman plainly, that 
if he is a democrat, I am none, and if I am a democrat, he is 
none. By democracy I understand a government in which the 
sovereign power resides in the body of the nation ; and not in 
a few, or in one. But this principle no more gives the body 
of the people authority to act wrong, than in a monarchy, in 
which the sovereign power resides in one man, that one man 
has a right to act wrong. By equality, I do not understand 
any thing more than equality before the law — now, if the law 
had said that when the late Malbone Littlepage died, his farms 
should go not to his next of kin, or to his devisee, but to his 
neighbors, then that would have been the law to be obeyed, 



282 THE REDSKINS. 

altliougli it would be a law destructive of civilization, since men 
would never accumulate property to go to tlie public. Something 
nearer home is necessary to make men work, and deny them- 
selves what they like. 

" The gentleman has told us of a sort of a political leap-year 
that is to regulate the social calendar. I understand him to 
mean that when property has got to be unequal, it must be 
divided up, in order that men may make a new start. I fear 
he will have to dispense with leap-years, and come to leap- 
months, or leap-weeks, ay, or even to leap-days ; for, was the 
property of this township divided up this very morning, and in 
this meetin'-'us, it would get to be unequal before night. Some 
folks can't keep money when they have it ; and others can't 
keep their hands off it. 

" Then, again, if Hugh Littlepage's property is to be divided, 
the property of all of Hugh Littlepage's neighbors ought to be 
divided too, to make even an appearance of equality ; though 
it would be but an appearance of equality, admitting that were 
done, since Hugh Littlepage has more than all the rest of the 
town put together. Yes, fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage pays, 
at this moment, one-twentieth of the taxes of this whole coun- 
ty. That is about the proportion of Ravensnest ; and that tax, 
in reality, comes out of his pockets, as much as the greater part 
of the taxes of Rensselaer and Albany counties, if you will 
except the cities they contain, are paid by the Rensselaers. It 
wun't do to tell me the tenants pay the taxes, for I know better. 
We all know that the probable amount of the taxes is estimated 
in the original bargain, and is so much deducted from the rent, 
and comes out of the landlord if it comes out of any body. 
There is a good reason why the tenant should pay it, and a 
reason that is altogether in his interest ; because the law would 
make his oxen, and horses, and carts liable for the taxes, should 
the landlord neglect to pay the taxes. The collector always 
sells personals for a tax if he can find them on the property ; 
and by deducting it from the rent, and paying it himself, the 
tenant makes himself secure against that loss. To say that a 



THE REDSKINS. 283 

tenant don't take any account of the taxes he will be likely to 
pay, in making his bargain, is as if one should say he is non 
com., and not fit to be trusted with his own affairs. There are 
men, in this community, I am sorry to say, who wish a law 
passed to tax the rents on durable leases, or on all leases, in 
order to choke the landlords off from their claims, but such 
men are true friends to neither justice nor their country. Such 
a law would be a tax on the incomes of a particular class of 
society, and on no other. It is a law that would justify the 
aggrieved parties in taking up arms to resist it, unless the law 
would give 'em relief, as I rather think it would. By removing 
into another state, however, they would escape the tax com- 
pletely, laugh at those who framed it, who would incur the 
odium of doing an impotent wrong, and get laughed at as well 
as despised, besides injuring the state by drawing away its 
money to be spent out of its limits. Think, for one moment, 
of the impression that would be made of New York justice, if 
a hundred citizens of note and standing were to be found living 
in Philadelphia or Paris, and circulating to the world the report 
that they were exiles to escape a special taxation ! The more 
the matter was inquired into, the worse it must appear ; for 
men may say what they please, to be ready ag'in election time, 
as there is but one piece or parcel of property to tax, it is an 
income tax, and nothing else. "What makes the matter still 
worse is, that every man of sense Avill know that it is taxing the 
same person twice, substantially for the same thing, since the 
landlord has the direct land-tax deducted from the rent in the 
original bargain. 

" As for all this cry about aristocracy, I don't understand it. 
ITugh Littlepage has just as good a right to his ways as I have 
to mine. The gentleman says he needs gold spoons and silver 
forks to cat with. Well, av hat of that? I dare say the gentle- 
man himself finds a steel knife and fork useful, and has no 
objection to silver, or, at least, to a pewter spoon. Now, there 
are folks that use wooden forks, or no forks, and who are glad 
to get horn spoons; and they might call that gentleman himself 



284 THE REDSKINS. 

an aristocrat. This setting of ourselves up as tlie standard in 
all things is any thing but liberty. If I don't like to eat ray 
dinner with a man who uses a silver fork, no man in this coun- 
try can compel me. On the other hand, if young Mr. Little- 
page don't like a companion who chews tobacco, as I do, he 
ought to be left to follow his own inclination. 

" Then, this doctrine that one man's as good as another has 
got two sides to it. One man ought to have the same general 
rights as another, I am ready to allow ; but if one man is as 
good as another, why do we have the trouble and cost of elec- 
tions ? We might draw lots, as we do for jurors, and save a 
good deal of time and money. We all know there is ch'ice in 
men, and I think that so long as the people have their ch'ice in 
sayin' who shall and who shall not be their agents, they've got 
all they have any right to. So long as this is done, the rest of 
the world may be left to follow their own ways, provided they 
obey the laws. 

" Then, I am no great admirer of them that are always tell- 
ing the people they're parfect. I know this county pretty 
Avell, as well as most in it ; and if there be a parfect man in 
AVashington county, I have not yet fallen in with him. Ten 
millions of imparfect men won't make one parfect man, and so 
I don't look for perfection in the people any more than I do in 
princes. All I look for in democracy is to keep the reins in 
so many hands as to prevent a few from turning every thing to 
their own account ; still, we mustn't forget that when a great 
many do go wrong, it is much worse than when a few go wrong. 

"If my son didn't inherit the property of Malbone Little- 
page, neither Avill Malbone Littlepage's son inherit mine. We 
are on a footing in that respect. As to paying rent, which 
some persons think so hard, what would they do if they had no 
house to live in, or farm to work ? If folks wish to purchase 
houses and farms, no one can prevent them if they have money 
to do it with ; and if they have not, is it expected other people 
are to provide them with such things out of their own " 

Here the speaker was interrupted by a sudden whooping, and 



THE REDSKINS. 



2S'o 



the Injins came pressing into tlie house, in a way to drive in all 
the aisles before them. Men, women, and children leaped from 
the windows, the distance being trifling, while others made 
their escape by the two side-doors, the Injins coming in only 
by the main entrance. In less time than it takes to record the 
fact, the audience had nearly all dispersed. 




280 THE REDSKINS, 



CHAPTER XVI. 

" AiiJ yet it is said — Labor in thy vocation ; -which is as much as to say — let Iho 
aia;ii8trate8 be laboring men ; and therefore should we be magistrates." 

Kino Henry VI. 

In a minute or two tlie tumult ceased, and a singular scene 
presented itself. The church had four separate groups or par- 
ties left in it, beside the Injins, who crowded the main aisle. 
The chairman, secretary, two ministers, and lecturer, remained 
perfectly tranquil in their seats, probably understanding quite 
well they had nothing to fear from the intruders, Mr. Warren 
and Mary were in another corner, under the gallery, he having 
disdained flight, and prudently kept his daughter at his side. 
My uncle and myself were the pendants of the two last named, 
occupying the opposite comer, also under the gallery. Mr. 
Ilall, and two or three friends who stuck by him, were in a 
pew near the wall, but about half-way down the church, the 
former erect on a seat, where he had placed himself to speak. 

"Proceed with your remarks, sir," coolly observed the 
chairman, who was one of those paradoxical anti-renters who 
had nothing to do with the Injins, though he knew all about 
them, and, as I have been told, was actually foremost in col- 
lecting and disbursing their pay. At this instant, Seneca 
Newcome sneaked in at a side-door, keeping as far as possible 
from the "disguised and armed," but curious to ascertain what 
would come next. 

As for Hall, he behaved with admirable self-possession. He 
probably knew that his former auditors were collecting under 
the windows, and by raising his voice he would be easily heard. 
At all events, he did elevate his voice, and went on as if 
nothino- had happened. 



THE REDSKINS. 287 

"I was about to say a word, Mr. Chairman, on the natur' 
of tlie two qualities that have, to me, at least, seemed upper- 
most in the lecturer's argooment" — ^}^es, this sensible, well- 
principled man actually used that detestable sound, just as I 
have written it, calling 'argument' 'argooment' — what a pity it 
is that so little attention is paid to the very first principles of 
speaking the language well in this country, the common schools 
probably doing more harm than they do good in this respect — 
"that have, to me at least, seemed uppermost in the lecturers 
argooment, and they are both those that God himself has viewed 
as of so great importance to our nature as to give his express 
commandments about them. He has commanded us not to 
steal, and he has commanded us not to covet our neighbor's 
goods ; proof sufficient that the possession of property is sanc- 
tioned by divine authority, and that it is endowed with a cer- 
tain sanctity of privilege. Now for the application. 

"You can do nothing as to leases in existence, because the 
state can't impair a contract. A great deal is said about thi* 
government's being one of the people, and that the people ought 
to do as they please. Now, I'm a plain man, and am talking 
to plain men, and mean to talk plainly. That this is a govern- 
ment of the people, being a democracy, or because the sovereign 
power, in the last resort, resides in the body of the people, is 
true ; but that this is a government of the people, in the com- 
mon signification, or as too many of the people themselves 
understand it, is not true. This very interest, about which 
there is so much commotion, or the right to interfere with con- 
tracts, is put beyond the people of the state by a clause in the 
constitution of the United States. Now, the constitution of 
the United States might be altered, making another provision, 
saying that 'no state shall ever pass any law to do away with 
the existence of durable leases,' and every man, woman, and 
child in New York be opposed to such a change, but ihcy 
would have to swallow it. Come, let us see what figures will 
do. There are twenty-seven states in actual existence, and 
soon will be thirty. I don't care on which number you calcu- 



288 THE REDSKINS. 

late ; say thirty, if you please, as that is likely to be the number 
before the constitution could be altered. Well, twenty-three 
of these states can put a clause into the constitution, saying 
you shan't meddle with leases. This might leave the seven 
most populous states, with every voter, opposed to the change. 
I've made a calculation, and find what the seven most populous 
states had in 1840, and I find that more than half of all the 
population of the country is contained in them seven states, 
which can be made to submit to a minority. Nor is this all ; 
the alteration may be carried by only one vote in each of the 
twenty-three states, and, deducting these from the electors in 
the seven dissenting states, you might have a constitutional 
change made in the country against a majority of say two mil- 
lions ! It follows that the people, in the common meaning, are 
not as omnipotent as some suppose. There's something stronger 
than the people, after all, and that's principles, and if we go to 

work to tear to pieces our own " 

It was impossible to hear another word that the speaker said. 
The idea that the people are not omnipotent, was one little 
likely to find favor among any portion of the population that 
fancy themselves to be peculiarly the people. So much ac- 
customed to consider themselves invested with the exercise of 
a power which, in any case, can be rightfully exercised by only 
the whole people, have local assemblages got to be, that they 
often run into illegal excesses, fancying even their little frag- 
ment of the body politic infallible, as well as omnipotent, in 
such matters at least. To have it openly denied, therefore, 
that the popular fabric of American institutions is so put to- 
gether, as to leave it in the power of a decided minority to 
change the organic law, as is unquestionably the fact in theory, 
however little likely to occur in practice, sounded in the ears 
of Mr. Hall's auditors like political blasphemy. Those under 
the windows groaned, while the gang in the aisle whooped and 
yelled, and that in a fashion that had all the exaggeration of a 
caricature. It was very apparent that there was an end of all 
the deliberative part of the proceedings of the day. 



THE REDSKINS. 289 

Hall seemed neither surprised nor uneasy. He wiped his 
face very coolly, and then took his seat, leaving the Injins to 
dance about the church, flourishing their rifles and knives, in a 
way that might have frightened one less steady. As for Mr. 
Warren, he led Mary out, though there was a movement that 
threatened to stop him. My uncle and myself followed, the 
whooping and screaming being really unpleasant to the ear. 
As to the chairman, the secretary, and the two ministers of 
the gospel, they kept their stations on the stage, entirely self- 
possessed and unmolested. No one went near them, a forbear 
ance that must have been owing to the often alleged fact that 
the real anti-renters, the oppressed tenantry of New York, 
and these vile masqueraders, had nothing to do with each 
other ! 

One of the astounding circumstances of the times, is the 
general prevalence of falsehood among us, and the almost total 
suppression of truth. No matter what amount of evidence 
there may be to contradict a statement, or how often it has 
been disproved, it is reaffirmed, with just as much assurance, as 
if the matter had never been investigated ; ay, and believed, as 
if its substance were uncontradicted. I am persuaded there is 
no part of the world, in which it is more difficult to get a truth 
into the public mind, when there is a motive to suppress it, 
than among ourselves. This may seem singular, when it is re- 
membered how many journals there arc, which are uttered with 
the avowed purpose to circulate information. Alas! the ma- 
chinery which can be used to give currency to truth, is equally 
efficient in giving currency to falsehood. There are so many 
modes, too, of diluting truth, in addition to the downright lies 
which are told, that I greatly question, if one alleged fact out 
of twenty, that goes the rounds of the public prints, those of 
the commoner sort excepted, is true in all its essentials. It 
requires so much integrity of purpose, so much discrimination, 
such a sensitiveness of conscience, and often so large a degree 
of sclf-sacritice, in men, to speak nothing but truth, that one is 
not to expect that their more vulgar and irresponsible agents 
1,3 



290 THE REDSKINS. 

are to possess a quality that is so very rare araong tlie very 
best of the principals. 

If I was glad to get out of the church myself, the reader 
may depend on it, I was rejoiced when I saw Mr. Warren 
leading Mary toward the place where I had left his wagon, as 
if about to quit a scene that now promised nothing but clamor 
and wrangling, if not something more serious. Uncle Ro de- 
sired me to bring out the wagon in which we had left the 
ftu-m ; and, in the midst of a species of general panic, in which 
the women, in particular, went %ing about in all directions, I 
proceeded to comply. It was at this moment that a general 
pause to all movements was produced by the gang of Injins pour- 
ing out of the church, bringing in their centre the late speaker, 
Mr. Hall. As the chairman, secretary, lecturer, and the two 
"ministers of the gospel" followed, it was conclusive as to the 
termination of any thing like further discussion. 

My uncle called me back, and I thought was disposed to assist 
Hall, who, manfully supported by the two or three friends that 
nad stood by him the whole day, was now moving toward us, 
surrounded by a cluster of wrangling and menacing Injins; the 
whole party bearing no little resemblance to a pack of village 
curs that set upon the strange dog that has ventured in among 
them. 

Oaths and threats filled the air ; and poor Hall's ears were 
offended by an imputation that, I dare say, they then heard 

for the first time. He was called a " d d aristocrat," and a 

hireling in the pay of " d d aristocrats." To all this, how- 
ever, the sturdy and right-thinking blacksmith was very indif- 
ferent ; well knowing there was not a fact connected with his 
existence, or a sentiment of his moral being, that would justify 
any such charge. It was in answer to this deadly imputation, 
that I first heard him speak again, after he had been interrupted 
in the church. 

" Call me what you please," he cried, in his clear, full voice; 
"I don't mind hard names. There isn't a man among you 
who thinks I'm an aristocrat, or the hireling of any one ; but I 



TUE REDSKINS. 291 

hope I am not yet so great a kuave as to wish to rob a neighbor 
because he happens to be richer than I am myself." 

" Who gave Hugh Littlepage his land ?" demanded one 
in the midst of the gang, speaking without the affectation 
of mimicry, though the covering to his head sufficiently 
changed his voice. "You know yourself it came from the 
king." 

" He never worked for an acre of it !" bawled another. " If 
he was a hard-working, honest man, like yourself, Tim Hall, we 
might bear it ; but you know he is not. He's a spendthrift and 
an aristocrat." 

" I know that hard hands don't make a man honest, any 
more than soft hands make him a rogue," answered Tim Hall, 
with spirit. ** As for the Littlepages, they are gentlemen in 
every sense of the word, and always have been. Their word 
will pass even now, when the bond of many a man who sets 
himself up ag'in them wouldn't be looked at." 

I was grateful and touched with this proof that a character, 
which I fully believed to be merited, was not lost on one of the 
most intelligent men of his class, in that part of the country. 
Envy, and covetousness, and malignancy, may lie as they Avill, 
but the upright recognize the upright ; the truly poor know 
who most assuage their sorrows and relieve their wants ; and 
the real lover of liberty understands that its privileges are not 
to be interpreted altogether in his own favor. I did not like 
the idea of such a man's being ill-treated by a gang of disguised 
blackguards — fellows who added to the crime of violatinof a 
positive law, the high moral offence of prostituting the sacred 
principles of liberty, by professing to drag them into the ser- 
vice of a cause, which wanted very little, in its range, to include 
all the pickpockets and thieves in the land. 

"They Avill do that noble fellow some injury, I fear," I whis- 
pered to my uncle. 

"If it were not for the mortification of admitting our dis- 
guise, I would go forward at once, and attempt to bring him 
out of the crowd," was the answer. "But that will not do, 



29'J THE UEDSKINS. 

under the circumstances. Let us be patient, and observe what 
is to follow." 

"Tar and feathers!" shouted some one among the Injins ; 
" Tar and feather him !" "Crop him, and send him home !" 
answered others. "Tim Hall has gone over to the enemy," 
added the Injin Avho asked whence I had my lands. 

I fancied I knew that voice, and when its tones had been re- 
peated two or three times, it struck me it was that of Seneca 
Newcome. That Seneca was an anti-renter, was no secret; 
but that he, a lawyer, would be guilty of the great indiscretion 
of committing felony, was a matter about which one might well 
entertain a doubt. To urge others to be guilty, was a different 
matter, but to commit himself seemed unlikely. With a view 
to keep an eye on the figure I distrusted, I looked out for some 
mode by which he might be known. A patch, or rather gore 
in the calico, answered admirably, for on lookiug at others, I 
saw that this gore was accidental, and peculiar to that particu- 
lar dress, most probably owing to a deficiency in the material 
originally supplied. 

All this time, which indeed was but a minute or two, the 
tumult continued. The Injins seemed undetermined what to 
do ; equally afraid to carry out their menaces against Hall, and 
unwilling to let him go. At the very instant when we were 
looking for something serious, the storm abated, and an unex- 
pected calm settled on the scene. How this was effected, I 
never knew ; though it is reasonable to suppose an order had 
been communicated to the Injins, by some signal that was 
known only to themselves. Of the result there was no doubt ; 
the crowd around Hall opened, and that sturdy and uncompro- 
mising freeman came out of it, wiping his face, looking heated 
and a little angry. He did not yield, however, remaining near 
the spot, still supported by the two or three friends who hud 
accompanied him from Mooseridge. 

My uncle Ro, on reflection, conceived it wisest not to seem 
in a huny to quit the village, and as soon as I had ascertained 
that Mr. Warren had come to a similar decision, and had ac- 



THE REDSKINS. 293 

tually taken refuge in the house of a parishioner, T " was agree- 
able," as the English say. While the peddler, therefore, made 
a new display of his watches, I strolled round among the crowd, 
Injins and others intermixed, to see what could be seen, and to 
glean intelligence. In the course of my wanderings, chance 
brought me close to the side of the masquer in the dress with 
the gore. Tickling him gently on the elbow, I induced him to 
step a little aside with me, whore our conversation would not be 
overheard. 

" Why might you be Injin — gentleman as you be ?" I 
asked, with as much of an air of simplicity as I could as- 
sume. 

The start with which this question was met, convinced me I 
Avas right; and I scarce needed ferther confirmation of the 
justice of my suspicion. If I had, however, it was afforded. 

" Why ask Injin dat ?" returned the man with the gore. 

"Veil, dat might do, and it might not do, 'Squire Ncwcome; 
but it might not do wid one as knows you as veil as I know you. 
So dell me ; vy might you be Injin ?" 

" Harkee," said Seneca, in his natural speech, and evidently 
much disturbed by my discovery ; " you must, on no account, 
let it be known who I am. You see, this Injin business is 
ticklish work, and the law might — that is — i/ou could get noth- 
ing by mentioning what you know, but as you have said, as 
I'm a gentleman, and an attorney at law, it wouldn't sound well 
to have it said that I Avas caught dressed up in this manner, 
playing Injin." 

"Ja — ja — I oonderstants — gentlemans might not do sich 
dings, und not be laughed at — dat's all." 

Ye-e-e-s — that's all, as you say, so be careful what you say 
or hint about it. Well, since you've found me out, it's my treat. 
What shairt be ?" 

This was not very elegant for a "gentleman," and "an at- 
torney at law," certainly, but, as it belonged to the school of 
Mr. Ncwcome, it struck me it might not be prudent for me tc 
betray that I belonged to one of a different sort. Affecting 



294 THE REDSKINS, 

contentment, therefore, I told him, -what he pleased, and he led 
me to a store of all business, that was kept by his brother, and 
in which, as I afterward found, he himself was a partner. 
Here he generously treated me to a glass of fiery >Yhisli:ey, 
which I managed to spill in a way that prevented my being 
choked. This was adroitly enough effected, as a refusal to 
drink would have been taken as a most suspicious circumstance 
in a German, As respects Americans of my assumed class, I 
am happy to say it is now more possible for one to refuse a 
glass than to accept it. It says a good deal in favor of the 
population of a country, Avhen even the coachman declines his 
whet. Nevertheless, a nation may become perfectly sober, and 
fall away with fearful rapidity on other great essentials. On the 
subject of sobriety, I agree altogether with my uncle, in think- 
ing that the Americans drink much less than most, if not less 
than any European nation ; the common notion that long pre- 
vailed to the contrary in the country, being no more than the 
fruits of the general disposition, in other people, to decry democ- 
racy, aided somewhat, perhaps, by the exaggerations that arc 
so common in all the published statistics of morals. 

I remarked that very few even of the Injins drank, though 
they now began to circulate freely among the crowd, and in 
the stores. Seneca left me as soon as he fancied he had 
clenched my discretion with a treat, and I stood looking round 
at the manner in which the " armed and disguised " conducted 
themselves. One fellow, in particular, attracted my attention; 
and his deportment may be taken as a specimen of that of many 
of his comrades. 

I was soon struck by the fact that Orson Newcome, Seneca's 
brother and partner, was obviously desirous of having as little 
to do with any of the Injins as possible. As soon as one en- 
tered his store, he appeared uneasy, and whenever one left it, 
he seemed glad. At first, I was inclined to think that Orson — 
what names will not the gi-eat Eastern family adopt, before they 
have got through with their catalogue ? — really, they seem to 
Bclcct their appellations as they do so many other things, or 



THE REDSKINS. 295 

to prove that they'll do as they please; but Orson, I fancied at 
first, was influenced by principle, and did not care to conceal 
the disgust he felt at such audacious and illegal proceedings. 
But I soon discovered my mistake, by ascertaining the true 
cause of his distaste for the presence of an Injin. 

"Injin want calico, for shirt" — said one of these worthies 
significantly, to Orson, who at first affected not to hear him. 

The demand was repeated, however, with additional signifi- 
cance, when the cloth was reluctantly thrown on the counter. 

"Good," said the Injin, after examining the quality; "cut 
Injin twenty yard — good measure, hear !" 

The calico was cut, with a sort of desperate submission ; the 
twenty yards were folded, enveloped, and handed to the cus- 
tomer, who coolly put the bundle under his arm, saying, as he 
turned to leave the store — "Charge it to Down Rent." 

The mystery of Orson's suUenness was now explained. As 
invariably follows the abandonment of principle, the fomenters 
of wrong were sufiering smartly through the encroachments of 
their own agents. I ascertained afterward, that these very Injins, 
who had been embodied in hundreds, with a view to look down 
law, and right, and the sacred character of contracts, had begun 
to carry out their main principle, and were making all sorts of 
demands on the pockets and property of their very employers, 
under one pretence or another, but with very obvious tendencies 
toward their own benefit. The "spirit of anti-rentism " was 
beginning to develop itself in this form, under the system of 
violence ; as, under that of legislative usurpation, and legislative 
truckling to numbers, which is most to be feared from the 
character of our representatives, it will as certainly be developed, 
unless suppressed in the bud, by such further demands on its 
complaisant ministers, as will cither compel them to repent of 
their first false step, will drive the state to civil war, or will 
drive all the honest men out of it. 

I did not remain long in the store. After quitting it, I went 
in quest of Mr. Warren and Mary, anxious to know if I could 
be of any service to them. The father thanked me for this at- 



296 THE REDSKINS. 

teiition, and let me know that lie Avas now about to quit the 
village, as he saw others beginning to go away, among whom 
was Hall, who was an old and much valued acquaintance of 
his, and whom he had invited to stop at the rectory to dine. 
He advised us to imitate the example, as there were strangers 
among the Injius, who might he addicted to drinking. 

On this information I hunted up my uncle, who had actually 
sold most of his trinkets, and all his watches but one, the secret 
of his great success being the smallness of his prices. He sold 
for what he had bought, and in some instances for even less, 
quitting the place with the reputation of being the 7noiit reason- 
able jowel-peddler who had ever appeared in it. 

The road was berfinninfj to be lined with vehicles caiTyiiig 
home the people who had collected to hear the lecture. As 
this was the first occasion which offered for witnessing such an 
exhibition since my return, I examined the ditfereut parties wc 
passed, with a view to comparison. There is a certain air of 
rusticity, even in the large towns of America, which one does 
not meet with in the capitals of the old world. But the Ameri- 
can country is less rustic than any part of the world with which 
I am acquainted, England alone excepted. Of course, in 
making such a remark, no allusion is intended to the immediate 
environs of very large towns ; though I am far from certain 
that the population of St. Ouen, the Runnymede of France, 
and which stands within a league of the Avails of Paris, Avould 
not have offered a more decidedly rustic spectacle, than that 
which we then saAV. As respects females, this was very strik- 
ingly true; scarce one being visible Avho had that air of coarse- 
ness, and ignorance, and vulgarity, Avhich denotes a degraded 
condition, and a life of hardships. There Avas little apparent 
that marked a peasantry in the moral sense of the Avord ; but 
the whole population seemed to be at their ease, using neat and 
Avell-kept vehicles ; solid, active horses; and being themselves 
reasonably well, though not very tastefully clad. Yet, all this 
was on a leased estate, under the dire oppression of a landlord, 
and beneath the shadow of aristocracy! A short dialogue 



THE EEDSKINS. 297 

which took place between my uncle and two sturdy weather 
beaten husbandmen, who drove their horses to a short distance 
on a walk at the side of ours, made the impression produced by 
such facts deeper than it might otherwise have been. I will 
relate it. 

** You are Jarmans, I b'lieve," commenced the oldest of the 
two men, a gray-headed tenant of my own, of the name of 
Holmes, who Avas well known to us both — "Jarmans, from the 
old countries, I hear?" 

"Ja — we bees from dcr olt coontries; und dat is a great vay 
off." 

" Ye-e-es, I s'pose it is — I've hcern tell of them coontries, 
often. Does the landlord system exist there ?" 

"Ja — dere ist lantlorts all ofer dis worlt, I do dinks; und 
tenants, doo.'' 

"Well, and how is the plan liked there; or be folks thinking 
of getting red (rid) on't?" 

"Nein — how might dey gets red of it? It ist dcr law, you 
might see, and vhat ist der law moost be done." 

This answer puzzled old Holmes a good deal. He passed a 
hand over his face, and turned to his companion, one Tubbs, 
also a tenant on my estate, as if to ask assistance. Tubbs was 
one of the new school ; a school that makes more laws than it 
respects, and belongs to the movement. He is a man that 
fancies the world never knew any thing of principles, facts, or 
tendencies, until the commencement of this century. 

" What sort of a government had you, in your own country?" 
demanded Tubbs. 

" Bretty goot. Mein coontry was Preussen ; und dat might 
be fought a bretty goot gofernment." 

"Yes, but it's a kingly government, I take it; — it seems to 
me, I have heern tell of kings in that land." 

"Ja, ja — dere ist ein koenig — one king. Do last might be 
der goot koenig Vilhelm, und now dere ist his son, who ist a 
goot koenig, too, as I might dink. Ja, ja — dere ist a king." 

" That explains it all," cried Tubbs, with a sort of triumph. 



298 THE REDSKINS. 

"You see, they have a king, and so they have tenants; but, 
here we have no king, and we have no need of landlords. 
Every man, in a free country, should be his own landlord ; 
that's my doctrine, and to that I'll stick." 

" There is some reason in that, fri'nd ; isn't that your idee ?" 
asked Holmes. 

"Veil, I might not oonderstandt. Dost der shcntlemans 
object to landlordts, in his coontry, because dere might be 
landlordts in dem coontries as might haf kings?" 

" That's it ! That's just the reason on't, and the trae prin- 
ciple !" answered Tubbs. "Kings and liberty can't go to- 
gether, and landlords and liberty can't go together." 

" But, might not der law in this coontry be to haf landlordts, 
too ? I hear dat it ist so." 

"Yes, that is the law, as it stands; but we mean to alter it 
all. We have got so many votes now, as to be sure to have 
both parties with us at a gin'ral election ; and give us the gov- 
ernor on our side, with the sartainty of votes enough to turn an 
election, and we're pretty confident of success. Votes is all 
that is wanting, in a truly free country, for men to have things 
pretty much in their own Avay." 

"XJnd dost you mean to haf not'in dat might be in de coon- 
tries ast haf kings." 

"To be sure not. What do we want of any of your lordly 
contrivances, to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer." 

"Veil, you moost alter de law of nature, if de rich vilt not 
get riches, und dc poor vill not feel dey be poor. De Piple 
dells us dat de misery of de poor ist deir poverty." 

"Ay, ay, Bible talk don't go for much in politics. Sabba' 
days are set aside, for the Bible, and week-days for public and 
private matters. Now, here is Ilugh Littlepage, of the same 
flesh and blood as my neighbor Holmes and myself be — no bet- 
ter and no worse ; yes, I'm willing to allow he's no worse, in 
the main, though in some things I do think we might claim the 
preference ; but I'll allow he's no worse, for the sake of argoo- 
mcnt. Each on us rents a farm of this Littlepage, of a hundred 



THE REDSKINS. 299 

acres good. Wa-al, this land we till, and crop, and labor, with 
our hands, and the hands of our sons, and hired help, perhaps ; 
and yet we have to pay fifty dollars apiece, annually, to that 
youngster, Hugh Littlepage, for rent; which money he takes 
and squanders where he pleases, in riotous livin', for't we know. 
Now, is that right, I ask ; and isn't it an onsuitable state of 
things for a republican coontry ?" 

" Und you dinks yoong Littlebage might spend his money in 
riotous lifin' in foreign landts ?" 

" Sartain — ^that's the tale hereabouts ; and I have seen a 
man who knows another, that has an acquaintance who has been 
in Paris, and who tells the people of his neighborhood that he 
stood at the door of the king's palace one day, and actually 
saw both the Littlepages going in to pay 'tribute unto Caesar,' 
as it is called — I suppose you know ; and they tell me that all 
that goes to see a king, has to kneel and kiss his hand — some 
say his toe. Do you happen to know how it is in the old 
countries ?" 

"It ist not so; I haf seen more kings as half a dozen, und 
dey dost not kneel down and kiss deir hants, except on sartain 
business. Dey might not allvays hear what is true, in dis 
country." 

" Wa-a-1, I don't know, I never was there to see," answered 
Tubbs, in that peculiar manner, which, whenever it is used by 
an American, may safely be interpreted to mean, "I'll not 
contradict you, but I'll believe what I please." "That is what 
I've heem say. But, why should we pay rent to young Little- 
page to spend in riotous living ?" 

"I might not know, oonless you haf hiret his landt, und 
agrec't to pay him rent ; in which case you might do as you 
agree't" 

"But when the bargain's of a kingly natur', I say no. 
Every country has its natur', and every government has its 
natur', and all things should be in conformity with natur'. Now 
it's ag'in natur' to pay rent in a republican country. We want 
nothing here, that's in common with lords and kings." 



300 THE REDSKINS. 

" Veil, den, you most alter your -whole coontry. You 
might not haf wifes und children ; you might not lif ui houses ; 
and plough de landt ; you might not eat und drink ; und you 
might not wear any shirt." 

Tubbs looked a little astonished. Like the Bourgeois Gentil- 
homme, he was amazed to find he had been talking prose all his 
life without knowing it. There is no (question that laws unsuit- 
able to the institutions of a republic might exist in a kingdom, 
but it is equally certain that the law which compels the tenant 
tc pay for the use of his house or farm, is not one of the num- 
ber. Tubbs, however, had been so thoroughly persuaded, by 
dint of talking, there was something exceedingly anti-republican 
in one man's paying rent to another, that he was not disposed 
to give the matter up so easily. 

"Ay, ay," he answered, "we have many things in common 
with kingdoms as men, I must allow ; but why should we have 
any thing in common of this aristocratic natur'? A free country 
should contain freemen, and how can a man be free if he doesn't 
own the laud out of which he makes his living?" 

"Und if he makes his lifin' out of anoder man's land, he 
■night be honest enough to pay for its use, I dinks." 

** But, we hold it ought not to be another man's land, but 
the land of him who works it." 

"Dell me dis — dost you efer let out a field to a poor neigh- 
bor on shares?" 

" Sartain ; we all do that, both to accommodate folks, and to 
get crops when we are crowded with work ourselves." 

" Und why might not all dat crop pelong to him dat works 
de field?" 

"Oh! that's doin' business on a small scale, and can't do 
any body harm. But the American institutions never intended 
that there should be a great privileged class among us, like the 
lords in Europe." 

" Did you efer haf any difficulty in getting your hire for a 
field dat might be so let out ?" 

" Sartain. There's miserable neighbors as well as them 



THE REDSKINS. 301 

that isn't. I had to sue the very last chap I had such dcalin's 
with." 

"Und dit das law let you haf your money?" 

"To be sure it did! What would law be good for, if it 
didn't help a body to his rights ?" 

"Und dost den tenants of dis broperty let Hugh Littlebage 
haf liis rents, ast might be due ?" 

"That's a different thing, I tell you. Hugh Littlcpagc has 
more than he wants, and spends his money in riotous livin' in 
foreign parts." 

"Veil, und sooppose your neighpors might vants to ask you 
what you do wit' your tollars after you shall sell your pork and 
beef, to see you mate goot use of it — might dat be liperty?" 

"That! Wliy, who do you think would trouble himself 
about my 'amin's. It's the big fish, only, that folks talk about, 
and care about, in such matters." 

" Den folks make Hugh Littlebage a big fish, by dair own 
mettlin', und enfy, und cofetousness — is it not so ?" 

" Ilarkee, fri'nd, I some think you're leanin' yourself to 
kingly ways, and to the idees in which you was brought up. 
Take my advice, and abandon all these notions as soon as you 
can, for they'll never be popular in this part of the w^orld." 

Popular! How broad has the signification of this word 
got to be ! In the eyes of two-thirds of the population it al- 
ready means, "what is right." Vox 2mpuli, vox dei ! To what 
an extent is ^his little word made to entwine itself around all 
the interests of life ! "When it is deemed expedient to inculcate 
certain notions in the minds of the people, the first arsrument 
used is to endeavor to persuade the inhabitants of New York 
that the inhabitants of Pennsylvania are already of that mind. 
A simulated public opinion is the strongest argument used, in- 
deed, on every occasion of the public discussion of any disputed 
point. He that can count the most voices is a better man than 
he who can give the most reasons; numbers carrying more 
weight with them than facts or law. It is evident, that, while 
in some things, such a system may work well, there are others, 



302 THE REDSKINS. 

and tliose of oversliadowing importance, in wliicli its tendency 
is direct and fearful toward corruption. 

As soon as Tubbs had given bis admonition, be applied tbo 
wbip to his horse, and trotted on, leaving us to follow at the 
best ffait we could extort from Tom Miller's hack. 



T n K REDSKINS. 303 



CHAPTER XVII, 

*If he were with me, King of Tuscarora, 
Gazing as I upon thy portrait now, 
In all its medalled, fringed, and bearded glory, 
Its eyes' dark beauty, and its thoughtful brow- 

' Its brow, half-martial, half-diplomatic-; 

Its eye, npsoaring, like an eagle's wings; 
"Well might he boast that we, the democratic, 
Outrival Europe — even in our kings." 



KeD jAt-KET. 



My uncle Ro said notliing when the two tenants left us; 
tliough I saw, by his countenance, that he felt all the absurdity 
of the stuff we had just been listening too. We had got 
within half a mile of the woods, when eight Injins came gal- 
loping up to a wagon that was directly behind us, and which 
contained another of my tenants, with his eldest son, a lad of 
sixteen, whom he had brought with him as a scholar, in having 
his sense of right unsettled by the selfish mystification that was 
going on in the land ; a species of fatherly care that was of 
very questionable merit. I said there were eight of these Injins, 
but there were only four horses, each beast carrying double. 
No sooner did the leaders of the party reach the wagon I have 
mentioned, than it was stopped, and its owner was commanded 
to alight. The man was a decided down-renter, but he obeyed 
the order with a very ill-grace ; and did not obey at all, indeed, 
until he was helped out of the wagon, by a httle gentle violence 
of this fragment of his own corps d'arm'ee. The boy was soon 
put into the highway, when two of the " disguised and armed " 
leaped into the vacant places, and drove on, passing us at a furi- 
ous pace, making a parting nod to the owner of the vehicle, 
and consoling him for its temporary loss by calling out, " Injin 
want him — Injin good fellow, you know." 



304 THE REDSKINS. 

Whether the discomfited farmer kneio or not, -vvo could iiot 
tell ; but he looked as if he wished the Injins anywhere but in 
their " happy hunting grounds." We drove on laughing, for 
it was in human nature to be amused at such an exhibition of 
the compulsory system, or of "liberty and equality carried 
out ;" and more particularly so, Avhen I was certain that the 
"honest, hard-working, horny-hand tiller of the soil," wanted 
to cheat me out of a farm ; or, to put his case in the most fav- 
orable point of view, wanted to compel me to sell him one at 
his own price. Nor did our amusement stop here. Before we 
reached the woods, we found Holmes and Tubbs in the high- 
way, too ; the other two worthies who had been mounted en 
crotqje having dispossessed them of their wagon also, and told 
them to " charge it to Injin." We afterward learned that this 
practice was very general ; the owner recovering his horse and 
team, in the course of a few days, by hearing it had been left, 
secretly, at some tavern within a few miles of his residence. 
As for old Holmes, he was in an honest indignation when we 
came up with him, while even Tubbs looked soured and dis- 
contented, or as if he thought friends were entitled to better 
treatment. 

"Vhat ist der matter?" cried out uncle E,o, who could 
hardly keep from laughing the whole time ; " vhat ist der mat- 
ter now ? Vhcre might be your hautsomc vaggin and your gay 
horse ?" 

"It's too bad! — yes, it's eeny most too bad!" grunted 
Holmes. "Here ami, past threescore-and-ten, which is the 
full time of man, the Bible says — and what the Bible says viust 
be true, you know ! — here have they trundled me into the high- 
way, as they would a sack of potatoes, and left me to walk every 
step of four miles to reach my own door ! It's too bad — it's 
eeny most too bad !" 

" Oh ! dat might be a trifle, compared to vhat it vould be to 
haf peen drundelled out of your farm." 

" I know't ! — I know't ! — I understand ! — its all meant for 
the good cause — to put down aristocracy, and make men raa'ly 



THE REDSKINS. 305 

equal, as the law intends tlieni to be — but this, I say, is ccny 
most too bad !" 

"Undyou so olt !" 

" Seventy-six, if I'm a day. My time can't be long, and my 
legs is weak, they be. Yes, the Bible says a man's time is lim- 
ited pretty much to threescore-and-ten — and I'll never stand out 
ag'in the Bible." 

" Und vhat might der Piple say apout vanting to haf your 
iieighpors' goots?" 

" It cries that down dreadfully ! Yes, there's plenty of that 
in the good book, I know from havin' heard it read — ay, and 
liavin' read it myself, these threescore years; it doos cry it 
down, the most awfully. I shall tell the Injins this, the next 
time they want my wagon. There's Bible ag'in all sich prac- 
tices." 

" Der Piple ist a good pook." 

" That it is — that it is — and great is the consolation and 
liope that I have known drawn from its pages. I'm glad to 
find that they set store by the Bible in Jarmany. I was pretty 
much of the notion, we had most of the religion that's goin', 
in Amcriky, and it's pleasant to find there is some in Jar- 
many." 

All this time old Ilolmes was puffing along on foot, my uncle 
Ro walking his horse, in order to enjoy his discourse. 

"Oh ! ja — ja, ja — dcre might be some religion left in der olt 
worlt — de Puritans, as you might call dem, did not pring it all 
away." 

" DespVate good people them ! "VVe got all our best sarcum- 
stances from our Puritan forefathers. Some folks say that all 
Ameriky has got, is owing to them very saints !" 

" Ja — und if it bees not so, nefer mind ; for dey will be sar- 
tain to get all Ameriky." 

Holmes was mystified, but he kept tugging on, casting wist- 
ful glances at our wagon, as he endeavored to keep up with it. 
Fearful we might trot on and leave him, the old man continued 
the discourse. "Yes," he said, *' our authority for every thing 



306 THE UKDSKINS. 

must come from the Bible, a'ter all. It tells us we hadn't 
ought to bear malice, and that's a rule I endivor to act up to ; 
for an old man, you see, can't indulge his sinful natur' if he 
would. Now, I've been down to Little Neest to attend a 
Down-Rent meetin', — but I bear no more malice ag'in Hugh 
Littlepage, not I, no more than if he wern't a bit of my land- 
lord ! All I Avant of him is my farm, on such a lay as I can 
live by, and the b'ys a'ter me. I look on it as dreadful hard 
and oppressive that the Littlepages should refuse to let us have 
the place, seein' that I have Avorked it now for the tarm of three 
whuU lives." 

" Und dey agreet dat dey might sell you de farm, when detn 
dree lifes wast up ?" 

"No, not in downright language they didn't, as I must allow. 
In the way of bargain, I must OAvn the advantage is altogether 
on the side of Littlepage. That was his grand'ther's act ; and 
if you wun't drive quite so fast, as I'm getting a little out of 
wind, I'll tell you all about it. That is just what we complain 
on ; the bargain being so much in his favor. Now, my lives 
have hung on desp'rately, haven't they, Shabbakuk ?" appeal- 
ing to Tubbs. " It's every hour of forty-five years sin' I tuck 
that lease, and one life, that of my old woman, is still in bein', 
as they call it, though it's a sort of bein' that a body might as 
well not have as have. She can't stand it a great while longer, 
and then that farm that I set so much store by, out of which 
I've made my livelihood most of my life, and on Avhich I've 
brought up fourteen children, Avill go out of my hands to en- 
rich Hugh Littlepage, who's got so much now he can't spend it 
at hum like honest folks, but must go abroad, to waste it in 
riotous living, as they tell us. Yes, onless the governor and 
the legislature helps me out of my difficulty, I don't see but 
Hugh Littlepage must get it all, making the ' rich richer, and 
the poor poorer.' " 

" Und vhy must dis cruel ding come to pass? Vhy might 
not mans keep his own in Ameriky ?" 

"That's jest it, you see. It isn't my own, in law, only by 



TUE REDSKINS. 307 

natur', like, and tlic ' speret of the institutions,' as they call it. 
I'm sure I don't hear much how I get it, so it only comes. If 
the governor can only make the landlords sell, or even give 
away, he may sartainly count on my support, providin' they 
don't put the prices too high. I hate high prices, which is on- 
suitable to a free country." 

" Fery drue. I sooppose your lease might gif you dat farm 
quite reasonaple, as it might be mate so long ago ?" 

" Only two shillings the acre," answered the old fellow, Avith 
a knowing look, which as much as boasted of the capital bar- 
gain he had in the affair, " or twenty-five dollars a year for a 
hundred acres. That's no great matter, I'm ready to allow; 
but my lives havin' held on so desp'rately, until land's got up to 
forty dollars an acre about here, I can't no more expect sich 
another lay than I can expect to go to Congress. I can rent 
that place, to-morrow mornin', for $150 of as good money as 
any man can pay." 

'* Und how much might you expect 'Squire Littlepage woult 
ask on a new lease ?" 

"Some think as much as $62.50; though other some think 
he would let it go to me for $50, for three lives longer. The 
old gin'ral told me when he signed the lease that I was gettin' 
a bargain, 'but, niver mind,' said he, 'if I give you good 
tarms, you'll make the better tenant, and I look to posterity 
and their benefit as much as I do to my own. If I don't get 
the advantage I might,' says he, 'my children, or my children's 
children, will. A man mustn't altogether live for himself in this 
Avorld, especially if he has children.' Them was good idees, 
wasn't they ?" 

"You might not dink differently. Und, how moch woult 
you love to bay for a deet of de farm ?" 

" Wa-a-1, there's differences of opinion on that subject. The 
most approved notion is, that Hugh Littlepage ought to be made 
to give warrantees, with full covenants, as it's called ; and cove- 
nants is all in all, in a deed, you know — " 

" But might not bo in a lease ?" put in uncle Ro, somewhat drjly. 



308 THE REDSKINS. 

"That depinds — but, some say tliem deeds ouglit to be 
given, if the tenants allow the landlords the worth of the laud, 
when the patentee got it, and interest down to the present 
day. It does seem a desp'rate price to pay for land, to give 
principal and interest, and to throw in all that has been paid 
beside ?" 

" Ilaf you made a calculation, to see vhat it might come to ?" 

" Shabbakuk has ; tell the gentleman, Shabbakuk, how much 
you made it come to, the aci'e." 

Shabbakuk was a far deeper rogue than his neighbor. Holmes. 
The last was merely a man of selfish and narrow views, who, 
from passing a long life with no other object before him than 
that of scraping together property, had got his mind completely 
ensnared in the meshes of this world's net ; whereas, his com- 
panion took the initiative, as the French have it, in knavery, 
and not only earned out, but invented the schemes of the 
Avicked. He clearly did not like this appeal to his arithmetic, 
but having no suspicion to whom he was talking, and fancying 
every man in the lower conditions of life must be an ally in a 
plan to make the "rich poorer, and the poor richer," he was a 
little more communicative than might otherwise have been the 
case. After reflecting a moment, he gave us his answer, 
reading from a paper in his hand, on which the whole sum 
had been elaborately worked for the occasion of the late meet- 
ing. 

*' The land was worth ten cents an acre, maybe, when the 
first Littlepage got it, and that is a liberal price. Now, that 
was eighty years since, for we don't count old Herman Mor- 
daunt's time as any thing; seeing that the land was worth next 
to nothin' in his time. The interest on ten cents at seven per 
cent, is seven mills a year, or five hundred and sixty mills for 
eighty years. This is without compound ; compound being 
unlawful, and nothin' agin law should be taken into the account. 
Add the ten cents to the five hundred and sixty mills, and you 
get six hundred and sixty mills or sixty-six cents. Now this 
sum, or a sum calculated on the same principles, all the tenants 



THE RKDSKINS. 309 

are willing to pay for their farms,* and if justice prevails tliey 
will get 'cm. 

*' Dat seems but little to bay for landt dat miglit now rent for 
a lollar an acre, each year." 

"You forgit that the Littlepages have had the rent these 
eighty years, the whuU time." 

"Und de denants haf hat de farms dese eighty years, de 
whole time, too." 

"Oh! we put the land ag'in the work. If my neighbor 
Holmes, here, has had his farm forty-five years, so the farm has 
had his work forty-five years, as an offset. You may depind 
on't, the governor and the legislature understand all that." 

" If dey does,*' answered Uncle Ro, whipping his horse into 
a trot, "dey must be fit for deir high stations. It is goot for 
a country to haf great governors, and great legisladurs. Guten 
Tac,y 

Away he went, leaving neighbor Holmes, Shabbakuk Tubbs, 
the governor and legislature, with their joint morals, wisdom, 
logic, and philosophy, in the highway together. My uncle 
Ko shook his head, and then he laughed, as the absurdity of 
what had just passed forced itself on his imagination. 

I dare say many may be found, who have openly professed 
principles and opinions identical, in substance, with what has 
just been related here, who will be disposed to deny them, 
when they are thrown into their faces. There is nothing unu- 
sual in men's refusing to recognize their own children, when 
they are ashamed of the circumstances that brought them into 
being. But, in the course of this controversy, I have often 
hoard arguments in discourse, and have often read them in the 
journals, as they have been put into the mouths of men in au- 
thority, and that too in their public communications, which, 
stripped of their very thin coverings, are pretty much on the 
level with those of Holmes and Tubbs. I am aware that no 

♦In order that the reader may underst;ind Mr. Hugh Littlopago is not inventing, I 
will add that propositions still more extravagant than these, have been openly circu- 
l:it*d amoD{; the anti-renters, np and down the country. — EDrroR. 



310 THE REDSKINS. 

governor lias, as yet, alluded to tlie hardshijjs of the tenants, 
under the limited leases, but it would be idle to deny that the 
door has been opened to principles, or a want of principles, 
that must sweep away all such property in the current of reck- 
less popular clamor, unless the evil be soon arrested. I say 
evil, for it must prove a curse to any community to break dowi\ 
the securities of property, as it is held in what has hitherto 
been thought its most secure form, and, what is of still more 
importance in a moral point of view, all to appease the cravings 
of cupidity, as they are exhibited in the masses. 

We were soon out of sight of Holmes and Tubbs, and in the 
woods. I confess that I expected, each instant, to overtake 
Hall in the hands of the Injins ; for the movement among that 
class of persons had appeared to me as one directed particu- 
larly against him. We saw nothing of the sort, however, and 
had nearly reached the northern limits of the bit of forest, when 
we came in sight of the two wagons which had been so cava- 
lierly taken possession of, and of the two horses ridden by the 
mounted men. The whole were drawn up on one side of the 
hio"hway, under the charge of a single Injin, in a manner to an- 
nounce that we were approaching a point of some interest. 

My uncle and myself fully expected to be again stopped, as 
we drove up to the place just mentioned ; not only was the 
track of the road left clear, however, but we were suffered to 
pass without a question. All the horses had been in a lather, 
as if driven very hard ; though, otherwise, there was nothing 
to indicate trouble, if we except the presence of the solitary 
sentinel. From this fellow, neither signs, nor order molested 
us ; but on we went, at Tom Miller's horse's favorite amble, 
iintil we were so near the verge of the wood, as to get a view 
into the open fields beyond. Here, indeed, we obtained a 
si"-ht of certain movements that, I confess, gave me some little 
concern. 

Among the bushes that lined the highway, and which have 
been already mentioned, I got a glimpse of several of the *' dis- 
guised and armed," who were evidently lying in ambush. Their 



THE REDSKINS. 311 

mimoer might have been twenty in all, and, it was now suffi- 
cient'y apparent, that those who had pressed the wagons had 
been hurr3'ing forward to re-enforce their party. At this point, 
I felt quite certain Ave should be stopped ; but we were not. 
We were suffered to pass without question, as we had just passed 
the wagons and horses, though it must have been known to the 
party that we were fully aware of their presence at that particu- 
lar spot. But, on we went, and were soon, unmolested, in the 
open country. 

It was not long, however, before the mystery was explained. 
A road descended from the higher ground, which lay to the 
Avestward of us, a little on our left, and a party of men was 
coming down it, at a quick walk, which, at the first glance, I 
mistook for a detachment of the Injins, but which, at a second 
look, I ascertained to be composed of Indians, or real red men. 
Tlie difference between the two is very great, as every American 
will at once admit, though many who read this manuscript will 
be obliged to me for an explanation. There is " Indian" and 
" Injin." The Injin is a white man, who, bent on an unworthy 
and illegal purpose, is obliged to hide his face, and to perform 
his task in disguise. The Indian is a red man, Avho is neither 
afraid nor ashamed to show his countenance, equally to friend 
or enemy. The first is the agent of designing demagogues, the 
hireling of a discontented and grasping spirit, who mocks at 
truth and right by calling himself one who labors to carry out 
"the spirit of those institutions" which ho dishonors and is 
afraid to trust; while the other serves himself only, and is afraid 
of nothing. One is skulking from, and shirking the duties cf 
civilization, while the other, though a savage, is, at least, true 
to his own professions. 

There they were, sure enough, a party of some sixteen of 
eighteen of the real aborigines. It is not an imcommon thing 
to meet with an Indian or two, strolling about the country 
selling baskets — formerly it was brooms of birch, but the march 
of improvement has nearly banished so rude a manufacture 
fi'om the country — with a squaw or two in company ; but it is 



312 THE KED SKINS. 

now very unusual to meet a true Indian warrior in tlie heart of 
the state, carrying his rifle and tomahawk, as was the case with 
all those who were so swiftly descending the road. My uncle 
Ro was quite as much astonished as I was myself; and he pulled 
up at the junction of the two highways, in order to await the 
arrival of the strangers. 

"These are real redskins, Hugh — and of a noble tribe," 
cried my uncle, as a still nearer approach gave him a better and 
better view. " Warriors of the west, out of all question, with 
one white man in attendance — what can such a party possib.y 
want at Ravensnest !" 

" Perhaps the anti-renters intend to enlarge their plans, and 
have a scheme to come out upon us, with an alliance formed 
with the true sons of the forest — may they not intend intimida- 
tion ?" 

" Whom could they thus intimidate, but their own wives and 
children ? But, here they come, in a noble body, and we can 
speak to them." 

There they did come, indeed ; seventeen of the finer speci- 
mens of the Redskins, as they are now sometimes seen passing 
among us in bodies, moving to or from their distant prairies ; 
for the white man has already forced the Indian, with the bears, 
and the elk, and the moose, out of the forests of America, upon 
those vast plains. 

Wliat is to be the end of the increase of this nation is one 
of the mysteries of Divine Providence. If faithful to the right, 
if just, not in the sense of yielding to the clamors of the many, 
but in the sense of good laws, if true to themselves, the people 
of this republic may laugh at European interference and Euro- 
pean power, when brought to bear on their home interests, as 
so much of the lumbering policy of ages no longer suited to 
the facts and feelings of our own times, and push on to the ful- 
filment of a destiny, Avhich, if carried out on the apparent 
designs of the ruler of the earth, will leave that of all other 
states which have preceded us, as much in the shade, as the 
mountain leaves the valley. But, it must not be forgotten that 



THE IlED SKINS. 313 

the brightest dawns often usher in the darkest days ; that the 
most brilliant youths frequently precede manhoods of disap- 
pointment and baffled wishes ; that even the professed man of 
God can fall away from his vows and his faith, and finish a 
career that was commenced in virtue and hope, in profligacy 
and sin. Nations are no more safe from the influence of temp- 
tation than individuals, and this has a weakness peculiai'ly its 
ovm. Instead of falling back on its popular principle, in ex- 
tremities, as its infallible safeguard, it is precisely in the irre- 
ponsible and grasping character of that principle that its danger 
is to be apprehended. That principle, which, kept within the 
limits of right, is so admirably adapted to restraining the ordi- 
nary workings of cupidity and selfishness, as they are familiarly 
seen in narrow governments, when permitted to overrun the 
boundaries placed for its control, becomes a torrent that has 
broken out of its icy bed, in the spring, and completely defaces 
all that is beneficial or lovely, in either nature or art, that may 
happen to lie in its course. As yet, the experience of two cen- 
turies has offered nothing so menacing to the future prosperity 
of this country, as the social fermentation which is at this mo- 
ment at work, in the state of New York. On the result of this 
depends the solution of the all-important question, whether 
principles are to rule this republic, or men ; and these last, too, 
viewed in their most vulgar and repulsive qualities, or as the 
mere creatures of self, instead of being the guardians and 
agents of that which ought to be. It is owing to this state of 
things, that we have already seen a legislature occupied with 
discussing the modes of evading the provisions of its own laws, 
and men who ought to stand before the world, stern and un- 
compromising in their public morals, manifesting a most pernic- 
ious ingenuity in endeavoring to master and overreach each other 
in wielding the arts of the demagogue. 

As the Indians entered the north and south road, or that in 

which we had stopped, the whole party came to a halt, with 

characteristic courtesy, as if to meet our wish to speak to them. 

The foremost of the band, who was also the oldest, being a man 

14 



314 THE REDSKINS. 

of sixty, if not older, uodded his head, and uttered the usnal 
conventional salutation of " Sago, sago." 

" Sago," said my uncle, and " Sago" put in I. 

" How do ?" continued the Indian, who we now discovered 
spote English. "What call this country?" 

"This is Ravensnest. The village of Little Nest is about a 
mile and a half on the other side of that wood." 

The Indian now turned, and in his deep guttural tones com- 
Tn":nicated this intelligence to his fellows. The information 
obviously was well received, which was as much as saying that 
they had reached the end of their journey. Some conversation 
next succeeded, delivered in brief, sententious remarks, when 
the old chief again turned to us. I call him chief, though it 
was evident that the whole party was composed of chiefs. This 
was apparent by their medals, their fine appearance generally, 
and by their quiet, dignified, not to say lofty bearing. Each 
of them was in a light summer attire, wearing the moccasin and 
leggings, <kc. ; the calico shirt, or a thin blanket, that was cast 
around the upper part of the person, much as the Roman may 
be supposed to have worn his toga ; all carrying the rifle, 
the bright, well-scoured tomahawk, and the sheathed knife. 
Each, too, had his horn and his bullet-pouch, and some of 
the more youthful were a little elaborate in their ornaments, 
in the way of feathers, and such presents as they had re- 
ceived on their long journey. Not one of them all, however, 
was painted. 

"This Raven-nest, eh?" continued the old chief, speaking 
directly, but with suflScient courtesy, 

"As I have said. The village lies on the other side of that 
wood ; the house from which the name is taken is a mile and a 
half in the other direction." 

This, too, was translated, and a low, but general expression 
of pleasure was given. 

" Any Injins 'bout here, eh ?" demanded the chief, looking so 
eaniestly at the same time as to surprise us both. 

^* Yes," answered my uncle. " There are Injins — a party is 



TIIEREDSEINS. 31 5 

in the edge of the woods, there, within thirty rods of you at 
this moment." 

With great rapidity this fact was communicated to the eager 
listeners, and there was a sensation in the party, though it was 
a sensation betrayed as such feelings are only betrayed among 
the aborigines of this part of the world ; quietly, reservedly, 
and with a coldness amounting nearly to indifference. "We 
were amused, however, at noting how much more interest thia 
news awakened than would probably have been excited had 
these red-men been told a town like London was on the other 
side of the wood. As children are known to feel most interest 
in children, so did these children of the forest seem to be most 
alive to an interest in these unexpected neighbors, brethren of 
the same habits and race, as they unquestionably imagined. 
After some earnest discourse among themselves, the old chief, 
whose named turned out to be Prairiefire, once more addressed 
himself to us. 

" What tribe, eh ? Know tribe ?" 

" They are called Anti-rent Injins — a new tribe in this part 
of the country, and are not much esteemed," 

"Bad Injin, eh?" 

" I am afraid so. They are not honest enough to go in paint, 
but wear shirts over their faces." 

Another long and wondering conference succeeded. It is to 
be supposed that such a tribe as that of the Anti-renters was 
hitherto unknown among the American savages. The first in- 
telligence of the existence of such a people would naturally 
awaken great interest, and we were soon requested to show 
them the way to the spot where this unheard of tribe might be 
found. Tliis was going somewhat further than my uncle had 
anticipated, but he was not a man to beat a retreat when he had 
once undertaken an enterprise. After a short deliberation with 
himself, he sijjnified his assent: and aliofhtinof from our Ava^on. 
we fastened Tom Miller's horse to a stake of one of the fences, 
and set off, on foot, as guides to our new brethren, in seeking 
the ixrcat tribe of the Anti-renters ! We had not scone half the 



316 THE KEDSKINS. 

distance to the woods before we met Holmes and Tubbs, who, 
getting a cast in another wagon, until they reached the place 
where their own vehicle was stationed, had recovered that, and 
were now on their way home, apprehensive that some new freak 
of their great allies might throw them out into the highway 
again. This wagon, our own excepted, was the only one that 
Lad yet emerged from the wood, the owners of some twenty 
others preferring to remain in the background until the devel- 
opment of the meeting between the tribes should occur. 

"What, in natur', does all this mean?" exclaimed old 
Holmes, as we approached him, reining in his horse, for the 
purposes of a conference. " Is the governor sending out ra-al 
Injins ag'in' us, in order to favor the landlords?" 

This was taking a harsh and most uncharitable view of the 
course of the governor, for an anti-renter ; but that functionary 
having made the capital blunder of serving, altogether, neither 
" God nor Mammon" in this great question, must expect to take 
it right and left, as neither God nor Mammon will be very likely 
to approve of his course. 

" Veil, I don't know," was my uncle's answer. *' Dese ist 
ra-al red-men, und dem younder ist ra-al Injins, dat'sall. Vhat 
might bring dese warriors here, joost now, you must ask of dem- 
selves, if you wants to I'arn." 

"There can be no harm in asking; I'm no way skeary about 
redskins, having seen 'em often, and my father fit 'em in his 
day, as I've heern him tell. Sago, sago." 

"Sago," answered Prairiefire, with his customary courtesy. 

'• Where, in natur', do you red-men all covae from, and where 
can ye be goin' ?" 

It was apparent that Holmes belonged to a school that never 
hesitated about putting any question ; and that would have an 
answer, if an answer was to be got. The old chief had prob- 
ably met with such pale-faces before, the untrained American 
being certainly among the most diligent of all the human beings 
of that class. But, on the other hand, the red-man regards the 
indulgence of a too eager curiosity as womanish, and unworthy 



THE REDSKINS. 317 

of tlie self-command and dignity of a warrior. The betraying 
of surprise, and the indulgence of a curiosity fit only for squaws, 
were two things that Prairiefire had doubtless been early told 
were unworthy of his sex ; for to some such in-and-in breeding 
alone could be referred the explanation of the circumstance 
that neither Holmes's manner, address, nor language, caused in 
him the least expression of emotion. He answered the ques- 
tions, however, and that with a coldness that seemed of proof. 

" Come from setting sun — been to see Great Father, at 
Washington — go home," was the sententious reply. 

" But, how come ye to pass by Ravensnest ? — I'm afeared the 
governor, and them chaps at Albany, must have a hand in this, 
Shabbakuck." 

What Shabbakuck thought of the "governor, and them chaps 
at Albany" is not known, as he did not see fit to make any 
reply. His ordinary propensity to meddle was probably awed 
by the appearance of these real redskins. 

" I say, why do ye come this-a-way ?" Holmes continued, re- 
peating his question. " If you've been to Washington, and 
found him to hum (Anglice, * at home'), why didn't ye go back 
by the way ye come ?" 

" Come here to find Injin ; got no Injin here, eh ?" 

" Injin ? why, of one sort we've got more of the critturs than 
a body can very well git along with. Of what color be the 
Injins you want to find? Be they of the pale-face natur', or be 
they red like yourselves?" 

Want to find red-man. He ole, now ; like top of dead hem- 
lock, wind blow t' rough his branches till leaf all fall off." 

"By George, Hugh," whispered my uncle, "these redskins 
are in search of old Susquesus !" Then entirely forgetting the 
necessity of maintaining his broken English in the presence of 
his two Ravensnest listeners, Shabbakuck Tubbs in particular, 
he turned, somewhat inconsiderately for one of his years, to the 
Prairiefire, and hastily remarked — 

" I can help you in your search. You are looking for a war- 
rior of the Onondagoes ; one who left his tribe a hundred 



318 THE BED SKINS. 

Bummers ago, a red-man of great renown for finding his path in 
the forest, and who would never taste fire-water. His name ia 
Susquesus." 

Until this moment, the only white man who was in company 
with this strange party — strange at least in our portion of the 
state of New York, though common enough, perhaps, on the 
great thoroughfares of the country — broke silence. This man 
was an ordinary interpreter, who had been sent with the party 
in case of necessity ; but being little more acquainted with the 
ways of civilization than those whom he was to guide, he had 
prudently held his tongue until he saw that he might be of 
some use. We afterward learned that the subagent who had 
accompanied the chiefs to Washington, had profited by the wish 
of the Indians to pay their passing homage to the "Withered 
Hemlock, that still stands," as they poetically called Susquesus 
in their own dialects — for Indians of several tribes were present 
— to pay a visit to his own relatives in Massachusetts, his presence 
not being deemed necessary in such a purely pious pilgrimage. 

"You're right," observed the interpreter. "These chiefs 
have not come to look up any tribe, but there are two of the 
ancient Onondagoes among them, and their traditions tell of a 
chief, called Susquesus, that has outlived every thing but tradi- 
tion ; who left his own people long, long ago, and who left a 
great name behind him for vartue, and that is a thing a redskin 
never forgets." 

"And all these warriors have come fifty miles out of their 
way, to pay this homage to Susquesus ?" 

" Such has been their wish, and I asked permission of the 
Bureau at Washington, to permit them to come. It costs Un- 
cle Sam $50 or a $100 more than it otherwise might, but such 
a visit will do all the warriors of the west a million of dollars of 
good ; no men honor right and justice more than redskins, 
though it's in their own fashion." 

" I am sure Uncle Sam has acted no more than righteously, 
as I hope he always may act as respects these people. Susque- 
sus is an old friend of mine, and I will lead you to him." 



Til K REDSKINS. 310 

"And wlio in natur' l>e you?'''' demanded Holmes, bis cu- 
riosity starting off on a new track, 

"Who am I? — You shall know who I am," answered uncle 
Ro, removing his wig, an action that I imitated on the spot — 
*' I am Roger Littlepage, the late trustee of this estate, and this 
is Hugh Littlepage, its owner." Old Holmes was good pluck 
in most matters ; of far better stuff at the bottom, than the 
snealdng, snivelling, prating demagogue at his side ; but by this 
discovery he was dumb-founded ! He looked at my uncle, then 
lie looked at me ; after which, he fastened a distressed and in- 
quiring gaze on Shabbakuck. As for the Indians, notwith- 
standing their habitual self-command, a common " hugh !" was 
uttered among them, when they saw two men, as it might be, 
thus scalping themselves. Uncle Ro was excited, and his 
manner was, in the least degree, theatrical, as with one hand he 
removed his cap, and with the other his Avig ; holding the last, 
with an extended arm, in the direction of the Indians. As a 
red-man is rarely guilty of any act of rudeness, unless he mean 
to play the brute in good earnest, it is possible that the Chip- 
pewa toward whom the hand which held the wig was extended, 
mistook the attitude for an invitation to examine that curious 
article, for himself. It is certain he gently forced it from my 
uncle's grasp, and, in the twinkling of an eye, all the savages 
were gathered round it, uttering many but low and guarded 
expressions of surprise. Those men were all chiefs, and they 
restrained their astonishment at this point. Had there been 
any of the ignoble vulgar among them, there is little doubt that 
the wig would have passed from hand to hand, and been fitted 
to a dozen heads, already shaved to receive it. 



320 THE REDSKINS, 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



"Tlie Gordon is giidc in a Imrry, 
An' Campbell is steel to the bane, 
An' Grant, an' Mackenzie, an' Murray, 
All' Cameron will truckle to name." 



IIOOG. 



The interruption of this scene came from old Holmes, who 
cried to his companion, on the high key in which it was usual 
for him to speak : 

" This is downright bad, Shabbakuk — we'll never get our 
leases a'ter this !" 

" Nobody can say" — ^answered Tubbs, giving a loud hem, as 
if determined to brazen the matter out. '* Maybe the gentle- 
man will be glad to compromise the matter. It's ag'in law, I 
believe, for any one to appear on the highway disguised — and 
both the 'Squire Littlepages, you'll notice, neighbor Holmes, 
be in the very middle of the road, and both was disguised, only 
a minute ago." 

" That's true. D'ye think any thing can be got out o' that? 
I want profitable proceedin's." 

Shabbakuk gave another hem, looked behind him, as if to 
ascertain what had become of the Injins, for he clearly did not 
fimcy the real "article" before him, and then he answered: 

" We may get our farms, neighbor Holmes, if you'll agree as 
I'm willin' to do, to be reasonable about this matter, so long as 
'Squire Littlepage wishes to hearken to his own interests." 

My uncle did not deign to make any answer, but, knowing 
we had done nothing to bring us within the view of the late 
statute, he turned toward the Indians, renewing his offer to 
them to be their guide. 

*' The chiefs want very much to knov/ who you are, and how 



THE REDSKINS. 321 

you two came by double scalps," said the intcrpctcr, smiling 
like one Avho understood for bis own part, tbc nature of a wig 
very well. 

"Telltbem tbat tbis young gentleman is Ilugb Littlepage, 
and that I am bis uncle. Hugh Littlepage is the owner of the 
land tbat you see on every side of you." 

The answer was communicated, and we waited for its effect 
on the Indians. To our surprise, several of them soon gathered 
around, evidently regarding us both Avith interest and respect. 

*' The claims of a landlord seem to be better understood 
among these untutored savages, than among your own tenants, 
Hugh," said my uncle. " But there goes old Holmes, tbc 
inbred rogue, and his friend Shabbakuk, back to the woods ; 
we may have an affair on hand with his Injins." 

" I think not, sir. It does not appear to me that there is 
valor enough in that tribe, to i\ice tbis. In general, the white 
man is fully a match for the redskin; but it may be doubted 
whether chiefs like these would not prove too much for twice 
their number of varlets, of the breed of yonder skulking scoun- 
drels." 

""Why do the chiefs manifest so much interest in us?" asked 
my uncle, of the interpreter. " Is it possible that they pay so 
much respect to us, on account of our connection with this 
estate?" 

" Not at all — not at all. They know the difference between 
a chief and a common man well enough, it is true," was the 
answer; "and twenty times, as we have come down through 
the country, have they expressed their surprise to me, that so 
many common men should be chiefs, among the pale-faces ; 
but they care nothing for riches. He is the greatest man 
among them, who is best on a war-path, and at a council-fire ; 
though they do honor them that has had great and useful ances- 
tors." 

"But, they seem to betray some unusual and extraordinary 
interest in us, too ; perhaps they are surprised at seeing gentle- 
men in such dresses !" 



322 THE REDSKINS. 

" Lord, sir, what do men care for dresses, that arc used to 
see the heads of factories and forts half the time dressed in 
skins. They know that there be holidays and. workin'-days ; 
times for every-day wear, and times for feathers and paint. No 
■ — no — they look at you both, with so much interest, on account 
of their traditions." 

"Their traditions! What can these have to do with us? 
We have never had any thing to do with Indians." 

" That's time of you, and may be true of your fathers; but 
it's not true of some of your ancestors. Yesterday, after Ave 
had got to our night's stopping-place, two of the chiefs, this 
smallish man with the double plate on his breast, and that 
elderly warrior, who has been once scalped, as you can see by 
his crown, began to tell of some of the treacheries of their own 
tribe, which was once a Canada people. The elderly chief 
related the adventures of a war-path, that led out of Canada, 
across the large Avaters, down to a settlement where they ex- 
pected to get^a great many scalps, but where in the end they 
lost more scalps than they found ; and where they met Sus- 
quesus, the upright Onondago, as they call him in that tongue, 
as well as the Yengeese owner of the land, at this very spot, 
whom they called by a name something like your own, who 
was a warrior of great courage and skill by their traditions. 
They suppose you to be the descendants of the last, and honor 
you accordingly ; that's all." 

" And, is it possible that these untutored beings have tra- 
ditions as reliable as this?" 

"Lord, if you could hear what they say among themselves, 
about the lies that are read to them out of the pale-face prints, 
you would I'arn how much store they set by truth ! In my 
day, I have travelled through a hundred miles of wilderness, by 
a path that was no better, nor any worse, than an Indian tradi- 
tion of its manner of running ; and a tradition that must have 
been at least a hundred summers old. They know all about 
your forefathers, and they know something about you, too, if 
you be the gentleman that finds the upright Onondago, or the 



THE REDSKINS. 323 

Withered Hemlock, in liis old age, with a wigwam, and keepa 
it filled with food and fuel." 

" Is this possible ! And all this is spoken of, and known 
among the savages of the Far West ?" 

*' K you call these chiefs savages," returned the interpreter, 
a, little offended at hearing such a term applied to his best 
fiiends and constant associates. "To be sure they have their 
Avays, and so have the pale-faces ; but Injin ways be not so 
very savage, when a body gets a little used to them. Now, I 
remember it was a long time before I could get reconciled to 
seeing a warrior scalp his enemy ; but as I reasoned on it, and 
entered into the spirit of the practice, I began to feel it was 
all right." 

I was walking just in front of my uncle, for we were m 
motion again on our way to the wood, but could not help turn- 
ing and saying to him with a smile — 

"So it would seem that this matter of the 'spirit' is to be 
found in other places beside the legislature. There is tlie 
' spirit of scalping,' as well as the ' spirit of the institutions!' " 

"Ay, Hugh; and the 'spirit of fleecing,' as a consequence 
of what is profanely termed the last. But it may be well to go 
no nearer to the wood than this spot. The Injins I have told 
you of are in these bushes in front, and they are armed ; I leave 
you to communicate with them in any manner you please. 
Tliey are about twenty in number." 

The interpreter informed his chiefs of what had been said, 
who spoke together in earnest consultation for a moment. Then 
Prairiefire himself plucked a branch off the nearest bush, and 
holding it up he advanced close to the cover, and called out 
aloud in some one, or in many of the different dialects Avith 
which he Avas acquainted. I saw, by the moving of their 
branches, that men were in the bushes ; but no ansAver of any 
oort was made. There Avas one savage in our band, Avho be- 
trayed manifest impatience at these proceedings. He Avas a 
)arge, athletic loAva chief, called in EngUsh Flintyheart, and, as 
we subsequently learned, of great renoAvn for martial exploit*. 



324 THE EEDSKINS, 

It iras always difficult to hold him in when tlicre was a pros- 
pect of scalps, and he Avns now less restrained than common, 
from the circumstance of his having no superior of his own par- 
ticular tribe present. After Prairiefire had called two or three 
times in vain to the party in the cover, Flintyheart stepped out, 
spoke a few words with energy and spirit, terminating his 
appeal by a most effective, not to say appalling, Avhoop, That 
sound was echoed back by most of the band, Avhen they all 
broke off, right and left, stealing more like snakes than bipeds 
to the fences, under cover of Avhich they glanced forward to 
the wood, in which every man of them buried himself in the 
twinkling of an eye. In vain had the interpreter called to 
them, to remind them where they were, and to tell them that 
they might displease their great father, at Washington, and 
Prairiefire stood his ground, exposed to any shot the supposed 
foe might send at him ; on they went, like so many hounds that 
have struck a scent too strong to be held in restraint by any 
Avhipper-in. 

"They expect to find Injins," said the interpreter, in a sort 
of despair; "and there's no holdin' 'em back. There can be no 
enemies of their'n down here-a-way, and the agent will be awfully 
angry if blood is drawn; though I shouldn't mind it a bit if 
the party was some of them scoundrels, the Sacs and Foxes, 
whom it's often a marcy to kill. It's* different down here, how- 
ever, and I must say I wish this hadn't happened." 

My uncle and myself just waited long enough to hear this 
when Ave rushed forward, along the highAvay, and entered tho 
Avood, joined by Prairiefire, who, fancying by our movement 
that all was right, noAv raised such a Avhoop himself as to dem- 
onstrate it was not for want of "knoAving hoAv" that he had 
hitherto been silent. The road made a cuitc at the very 
point where it penetrated the forest, and being fringed with the 
bushes already mentioned, the two circumstances shut out the 
view of what was passing behind the scenes, until we reached 
the turn, where a common halt of the wagons had been made, 
when the Avhole view burst upon us at once in all its magnificence. 



THE REDSKINS. 325 

A rout of a "grand army" could scarcely have been more 
picturesque ! The road was lined with vehicles in full retreat, 
to use a military term, or, to speak in the more common par- 
lance, scampering off. Every whip was in active use, every 
horse was on the run, whilst half the faces were turned behind 
their owners, the women sending back screams to the whoops 
of the savages. As for the Injins, they had instinctively aban- 
doned the woods, and poured down into the highway — speed 
like theirs demanding open ground for its finest display. Some 
had leaped into wagons, piling themselves up among those vir- 
tuous wives and daughters of that portion of the honest yeo- 
manry Avho had collected to devise the means of cheating me 
out of my propert)^ But, why dwell on this scene, since the 
exploits of these Indians, for the last six years, have amply 
proved that the only thing in which they excel, is in running 
away? They are heroes when a dozen can get round a single 
man to tar and feather him ; valiant, as a hundred against five 
or six, and occasionally murderers, when each victim can be 
destroyed by five or six bullets, to make sure of him. The 
ver^ cowardice of the scoundrels should render them loathsome 
to the whole community ; the dog that has spirit only to hunt 
in packs being cur at the bottom. 

I must add one other object to the view, however. Holmes 
and Shabbakuk brought up the rear, and both were flogging 
their devoted beast as if his employers — I dare not call them 
" masters," as I might be accused of aristocracy for using so 
oflensive a term in this age of common-sense liberty, while 
"employers" is a very significant expression for the particular 
occasion — as if his " employers," then, had left something be- 
hind them, at "Little Neest," and were hunying back to obtaiu 
it before it fell into other hands. Old Holmes kept looking 
behina, as if chased by the covenants of forty leases, while the 
" spirit of the institutions," headed by two governors, and 
"the honorable gentleman from Albany," was in full pursuit. 
If the " spirit of the institutions" Avas really there, it was 
quite alone ; for I looked in vain for the exhibition of any other 



326 THE REDSKINS. 

spirit. In mucli less time than it has taken me to write this ac- 
count, the road was cleared, leaving my uncle, myself, and Prai- 
riefire, in quiet possession ; the latter uttering a very significant 
" hugh !" as the last wagon went out of sight in a cloud of dust. 

It was but a moment, however, before our own tribe, or 
tribes would be more accurate, came down upon us, collecting 
in the road at the very spot where we stood. The victory had 
been bloodless, but it was complete. Not only had the savage 
Indians completely routed the virtuous and much-oppressed-by- 
aristocracy Injins, but they had captured two specimens of 
virtue and depression in the persons of as many of the band. 
So very significant and expressive was the manner of the cap- 
tives, that Flintyheart, into whose hands they had fallen, not 
only seemed to hold their scalps in contempt, but actually had 
disdained to disarm them. There they stood, bundles of 
calico, resembling children in swaddling-clothes, with nothing 
partaking of that natural freedom of which their party love to 
boast, but their legs, which were left at perfect liberty, by way 
of a dernier resort. My uncle now assumed a little authority, 
and commanded these fellows to take oflf their disguises. He 
might as well have ordered one of the oaks, or maples, to lay 
down its leaves before the season came round ; for neither would 
obey. 

Tlie interpreter, however, whose name Avas Manytongues, 
rendered into English from the Indian dialects, was a man of 
surprisingly few words, considering his calling, on an occasion 
like this. Walking up to one of the prisoners, he first dis- 
armed him, and then removed his calico hood, exposing the 
discomfited countenance of Brigham, Tom Miller's envious 
laborer. The "hughs!" that escaped the Indians were very 
expressive, on finding that not only did a pale-face countenance 
ippear from beneath the covering, but one that might be said 
to be somewhat paler than common. Manytongues had a good 
deal of frontier waggery about him, and, by this time he began 
to comprehend how the land lay. Passing his hand over Josh's 
head, he coolly remarked — 



THE REDSKINS. 327 

*' That scalp would be thought more of, iu Iowa, than it' a 
ra-ally worth, I'm thinking, if truth was said. But let us sec 
who we have here." 

Suiting the action to the words, as it is termed, the interpre- 
ter laid hold of the hood of the other captive, but did not suc- 
ceed in removing it without a sharp struggle. He effected his 
purpose, assisted by two of the younger chiefs, who stepped 
forward to aid him. I anticipated the result, for I had early 
recognized the gore ; but great was the surprise of my uncle 
when he saw Seneca Newcome's well-known face developed by 
the change ! 

Seneca — or, it might be better now to use his own favorite 
orthoepy, and call him Sene%, at once, for he had a particu- 
larly sneaking look as he emerged from under the calico, and 
this would be suiting the sound to appearances — Seneky, then, 
was in a " mingled tumult," as it is called, of rage and shame. 
Tlie first predominated, however, and, as is only too common 
in cases of military disasters, instead of attributing his capture 
to circumstances, the prowess of his enemies, or any fault of his 
own, he sought to mitigate his own disgrace by heaping dis- 
grace on his comrade. Indeed, the manner in which these 
men went at each other, as soon as unsacked, reminded me of 
two game-cocks that are let out of their bags within three feet 
of each other, with this exception — neither crowed. 

" This is all your fault, you cowardly dog," said Seneky, al- 
most fiercely, for shame had filled his face with blood. "Had 
you kept on your feet, and not run me down, in your haste to 
get off, I might have retreated, and got clear with the rest of 
them." 

Tliis assault was too much for Joshua, who gained spirit to 
answer by its rudeness and violence, not to say injustice ; for, 
as we afterward ascertained, Newcome had actually fallen in 
his eagerness to retreat ; and Brigham, so far from being the 
cause of his coming down, had only prevented his getting up, 
by falling on top of him. In this prostrate condition they had 
further fallen into the hands of their enemies. 



328 THE REDSKINS. 

" I want nothiii' from you, 'Squire Newcome," answered 
Joshua, quite decidedly as to tone and manner ; "yo?<r charac- 
ter is well known, all up and down the country." 

"What of my character? What have rjou got to say ag'in' 
me or my character ?" demanded the attorney at law, in a tone 
of high defiance. " I want to see the man who can say any 
thing ag'in' my character." 

This was pretty well, considering that the fellow had actually 
been detected in the commission of a felony ; though I suppose 
that difficulty would have been gotten over, in a moral sense, 
by the claim of being taken while struggling in defence of human 
rights, and the " spirit of the institutions." The defiance was 
too much for Brigham's patience, and being fully assured, by 
this time, that he was not in much danger of being scalped, he 
turned upon Seneca, and cried, with something more than spirit, 
with downright rancor — 

"You're a pretty M'nd of the poor man, and of the people, 
if truth must be said, an't you ? Every body in the county 

that's in want of money knows what you be, you d d 

shaver." 

As the last words came out, Seneky's fist went in upon 
Brigham's nose, causing the blood to flow freely. My uncle 
Ro now thought it time to interfere, and he rebuked the irri- 
tated lawyer with dignity. 

"Why did he call me a d d shaver, then?" retorted 

Seneky, still angry and red. "I'll stand that from no man." 

"Why, what harm can there be in such a charge, Mr: New- 
come ? You are a member of the bar, and ought to understand 
the laws of your country, and cannot stand in need of being told 
that it has been decided by the highest tribunal of your state 
that it is no reproach to be called a shaver ! Some of the hon- 
orable members of that learned body, indeed, seem to think, 
on the contrary, that it is matter of commendation and congrat- 
ulation. I am ashamed of you, Mr, Newcome — I'm quite 
ashamed of you." 

Seneky muttered something, in which I fancied I understood 



THE REDSKINS. 329 

the words "tlie Court of Errors be d d," or "the Court 

of Errors" might go to some very bad place, which I will not 
name ; but I will not take on myself that any man of decency 
could really use such irreverent language about a body so truly 
eminent, though a person in a passion is sometimes disposed to 
forget propriety. My uncle now thought it time to put an end 
to this scene ; and, without deigning to enter into any explana- 
tions, he signified to Manytongues his readiness to lead his chiefs 
to the point where they desired to go. 

"As to these two Injins," he added, " their capture Avill 
do us no honor ; and now we know who they are, they can 
be taken at any time by the deputy sherifis or constables. It 
is hardly worth while to encumber your march with such 
fellows." 

The chiefs assented to this proposal, too, and we quitted the 
woods in a body, leaving Seneky and Joshua on the ground, 
As we subsequently learned, our backs were no sooner turned, 
than the last pitched into the first, and pounded him not only 

until he owned he was "a shaver," but that he was *' a d d 

shaver" in the bargain. Such was the man, and such the class, 
that the deluded anti-renters of New York wish to substitute, 
in a social sense, for the ancient landlords of the country ? A 
pretty top-sheaf they would make to the stack of the commu- 
nity, and admirably would the grain be kept that was protected 
by their covering ! One would like to see fellows of this moral 
calibre interpreting their covenants ; and it would be a useful, 
though a painful lesson, to see the change effected for a twelve- 
month, in order to ascertain, after things had got back into 
the old natural channel, how many would then wish to "return, 
like the dog to his vomit, 6r the soav to her wallowing in th'^ 
mire." 

After giving some directions to Manytongues, my uncle and 
I got into our wagon and drove up the road, leaving the In- 
dians to follow. The rendcCTous was at the Nest, whither we 
had now determined to proceed at once and assume our proper 
characters. In passing the rectory, wc found time to stop ard 



330 THE KEDSKINS. 

run ill, to mnaire after the welfare of Mr. and Miss Warren. 
Great was my joy at learning they had gone on to the Nest, 
where they were all to dine. This intelligence did not tend to 
lessen the speed of Miller's horse, or my horse, it would be bet- 
ter to say, for I am the real owner of every thing on the Nest 
farm, and shall probably so remain, unless the " spirit of the 
institutions" gets at my property there, as well as in other 
places. In the course of half an hour we drove on the lawn, 
and stopped at the door. It will be recollected that the In- 
dians had our wigs, which had been left by my uncle and my- 
self in their hands, as things of no further use to us. Notwith- 
standing our dresses, the instant we presented ourselves without 
these instruments of disguise we were recognized, and the cry 
went through the house and grounds that " Mr. Hugh had 
come home!" I confess I was touched with some signs of in- 
terest and feeling that escaped the domestics, as well as those 
who belonged out of doors, when they saw me again standing 
before them in health, if not in good looks. My uncle, too, 
was welcome; and there were a few minutes during which I 
forgot all my grounds for vexation, and was truly happy. 

Although my grandmother, and sister, and Mary Warren, all 
knew what the cry of " Mr. Hugh has got home" meant, it 
brought every body out upon the piazza. Mr. Warren had re- 
lated the events of the day, as far as he was acquainted with 
them ; but even those who were in the secret, were surprised 
at our thus returning unwigged, and in our proper characters. 
As for myself I could not but note the manner in which the 
four girls came out to meet me. Martha flew into my embrace, 
cast her arms around my neck, kissing me six or eight times 
without stopping. Then Miss Colcbrooke came next, with Ann 
Marston leaning on her arm, both smiling, though greatly sur- 
prised, and both bright, and pretty, and lady-like. They were 
glad to see me, and met my salutations frankly and like old 
friends; though I could see they did not fancy my dress in the 
least. Mary Warren was behind them all, smiling, blushing, 
and shy ; but it did not require two looks from me to make cer- 



THE REDSKINS. 331 

tain that her welcome was as sincere as that of my older friends. 
Mr. Warren was glad to have it in his power to greet us openly, 
and to form an acquaintance with those to whose return ho 
had now been looking, Avith anxiety and hope, for three or four 
years. 

A few minutes sufficed for the necessary explanations, a part 
of which, indeed, had already been made by those who were 
previously in the secret ; when my dear grandmother and Patt 
insisted on our going up to our old room, and of dressing our- 
selves in attire more suitable to our stations. A plenty of sum- 
mer clothes had been left behind us, and our wardrobes had 
been examined that morning in anticipation of our soon having 
need of them, so that no great time was necessary to make the 
change. I was a little fuller than when I left home, but the 
clothes being loose, there was no difficulty in equipping my- 
self. I found a handsome blue dress-coat that did very well, 
and vests and pantaloons ad lihitum. Clothing is so much 
cheaper in Europe than at home, that Americans who arc well 
supplied do not often carry much with them when they go 
abroad ; and this had been a rule with my uncle all his life. 
Each of us, moreover, habitually kept a supply of country attire 
at the Nest, which we did not think of removing. In conse- 
quence of these little domestic circumstances, as has been said, 
there was no want of the means of putting my uncle and my- 
self on a level with others of our class, as respects outward 
appearance, in that retired part of the country, at least. 

llic apartments of my uncle and myself were quite near 
each other, in the north wing of the house, as that which looked 
in the direction of a part of the meadows under the cliff, tho 
Avooded ravine, and the wigwam, or cabin of the " Upright 
Onondago." The last was very plainly in view from the win- 
dow of my dresBing-roora ; and I was standing at the latter, 
contemplating the figures of the two old fellows, as they sat 
basking in the sun, as was their practice of an afternoon, when 
a tap at the door proved to be the announcement of the en- 
trance of John. 



332 THE REDSKINS. 

m 

"Well, Jolm, my good fellow," I said, laugHngly; "I find 
a wig makes a gi-eat difference with your means of recognizing 
an old friend. I must thank you, nevertheless, for the good 
treatment you gave me in my character of a music-grinder." 

"I am sure, Mr. Hugh, you are heartily welcome to my 
services, come as you may to ask them, It was a most sur- 
prisingest deception, sir, as I shall ever hadmit ; but I thought 
the whole time you wasn't exactly Avhat you seemed to be, as 
I told Kitty as soon as I Avent down stairs : ' Kitty,' says I, 
' them two peddlers is just the two genteelest peddlers as hever 
I see in this country, and I shouldn't wonder if they had knoAvn 
better days.' But, now you have been to see the hanti-renters 
■with your own eyes, Mr. Hugh, what do you think of them, if 
I may be so bold as to ask the question ?" 

"Very much as I thought, before I had been to see them. 
They are a set of fellows who are canting about liberty, at the 
very moment when they are doing all they can to discredit its 
laws, and who mistake selfishness for patriotism ; just as their 
backers in the state government are doing, by using the same 
cant, when their object is nothing but votes. If no tenant had 
a vote, this question would never have been raised, or dreamt 
of — but I see those two old fellows, Jaaf andSus, seem to enjoy 
themselves still." 

*' Indeed they do, sir, in the most surprisingest manner ! 
They was both antiquities, as we says in Hengland, when I 
came to this country, sir — and that was before you was born, 
Mr. Hugh — an age agone. But there they sits, sir, day in and 
day out, looking like monumentals of past times. The nigger" 
— John had been long enough in the country to catch the 
>ernacular — "The nigger grows uglier and uglier every year, 
and that is most of a change I can see in him ; while I do 
think, sir, that the Indian grows 'andsomer and 'andsomer 
He's the 'andsomest old gentleman, sir, as I know of, far and 
near !" 

" Old gentleman /" What an expressive term that was, in 
this case ! No human being would ever think of calling Jaaf 



THE KEDSKJNS. 333 

an "old gentleman," even in these "aristocratic" days, wlien 
" gentlemen" are plentier tlian blackberries ; while any one 
might feel disposed thus to describe Sasquesus. The Onondago 
was a gentleman, in the best meaning of the word ; though he 
may, and certainly did, want a great deal in the way of mere 
conventional usages. As for John, he never would have used 
the word to me, except in a case in which he felt the party had 
a claim to the appellation. 

" Susquesus is a magnificent sight, with his gray or white 
head, fiery eyes, composed features, and impressive air," I an- 
swered; "and Jaaf is no beauty. How do the old men get 
on together?" 

"Why, sir, they quarrel a good deal — that is, the nigger 
quarrels ; though the Indian is too much above him to mind 
what he says. Nor will I say that Yop actually quarrels, sir, 
for he has the greatest possible regard for his friend ; but he 
aggravates in the most surprisingest manner — just like a nigger, 
howsever, I do suppose." 

" They have wanted for nothing, I trust, during my absence. 
Their table and other comforts have been seen to carefully, I 
hope?" 

"No fear of that, sir, so long as Mrs. Littlepage lives ! She 
has the affection of a child for the old men, and has every thing 
provided for them that they can possibly want. Betty Smith, 
sir — you remember Betty, the widow of the old coachman, that 
died when you was at college, sir — well, Betty has done nothing, 
tjiese four years, but look after them two old men. She keeps 
every thing tidy in their hut, and washes it out twice a week, 
and washes their clothes for them, and darns, and sews, and 
cooks, and looks after all their comforts. She lives hard by, 
m the other cottage, sir, and has every thing handy." 

"I am glad of that. Does either of the old men ever stray 
over as far as the Nest House now, John ? Before I went 
abroad, Ave had a visit from each, daily." 

"That custom has fallen away a little, sir; though the nigger 
comes much the oftenest. He is sure to be here once or twice 



334 THE REDSKINS. 

a week, in good Aveather. Then lie walks into the kitchen, 
where he will sit sometimes for a whole morning telling the 
hardest stories, sir — ha, ha, ha! — yes, sir, just the hardest 
stories one ever heard !" 

"Why what can he have to say of that nature, that it seems 
to amuse you so ?" 

" According to his notion, sir, every thing in the country is ■ 
falling away, and is inferior like to what it may have been in 
his young days. The turkeys arn't so large, sir; and the fowls 
is poorer, sir ; and the mutton isn't so fat, sir ; and sich sort of 
enormities." 

Here John laughed very heartily, though it was plain enough 
he did not much fancy the comparisons. 

" And Susquesus," I said, "he does not share in his friend's 
criticism ?" 

" Sus never enters the kitchen, sir, at all. He knows that 
all the quality and upper class come to the great door of the 
house, and is too much of a gentleman to come in at any other 
entrance. No, sir, I never saw Sus in the kitchen or hoffices, 
at all ; nor does Mrs. Littlepage 'ave his table set anywhere but 
in the hupper rooms, or on the piazza, when she wishes to treat 
him to any thing nice. The old gentleman has what he calls 
his traditions, sir, and can tell a great many stories of old times; 
but they ar'n't about turkeys, and 'orses, and garden-stuff, and 
such things as Yop dwells on so much, and so uncomfortably." 

I now dismissed John, after again thanking him for his civili- 
ties to one of my late appearance, and joined my uncle. When 
we entered the little drawing-room, where the whole party was 
waiting to meet us, previously to going to the table, a common 
exclamation of pleasure escaped them all. Martha again kissed 
me, declaring I was now Hugh; that I looked as she h.ad 
expected to see Hugh ; that she would now know me for Hugh, 
and many other similiar things; while my dear grandmother 
stood and parted my hair, and gazed into my face with tears in 
her eyes, for I reminded her of her first-born, who had died so 
young ! As for the other ladies, the two heiress-wards of Uncle 



THE REDSKINS. 335 

lio seemed smiling and friendly, and willing to renew our an 
cieut amicable relations ; but Mary Warren still kept herself 
in the background, though I thought by her modest and half- 
averted eye, and flushed cheeks, that she sympathized as deeply 
in her friend Patt's present happiness as any of the others ; 
Dossibly more deeply. 

Before we went to the table I sent a sei*vant to the top of the 
house, with orders to look down the road, in order to ascertain 
when my red friends might be expected. This man reported 
that they were advancing along the highway, and would prob- 
ably reach the door in the course of half an hour. They had 
stopped ; and he thought that he could perceive, by means of 
his glass, that they were painting their faces, and otherwise 
arranging their toilets, in preparation for the anticipated inter- 
view. On receiving this information we took our scats at table, 
expecting to be ready to receive the chiefs, as soon as they 
should arrive. 

Ours was a happy dinner. For the moment, the condition 
of the country and the schemes of my tenants were forgotten, 
and we chatted of those nearer interests and feelings that nat- 
urally presented themselves to our minds at such a time. At 
length dear grandmother pleasantly remarked — 

" You must have an instinct for the discovery of discretion, 
Hugh, for no one could have made a better choice of a confi- 
dant than you did, while going to the village this morning.' 

Mary blushed like an Italian sky at eventide, and looked 
down, to conceal her confusion. 

" I do not know whether it was discretion or vanity, grand- 
mother," was my answer, "for I am conscious of feeling an 
unconquerable reluctance to passing for a common music-grinder 
m Miss Warren's eyes." 

"Nay, Hugh," put in the saucy Patt, " I had told you be- 
fore that you passed for :a very i<?icommon music-grinder in her 
eyes. As for the grinding, she said but little ; for it was of 
the flute, and of the manner in which it was played, that Mis3 
WaiTen spoke the most eloquently," 



33G 



TUE REDSKINS. 



The " Martha !" of Mary "Warren, lowly, but half-rcproach- 
fully uttered, showed that the charming girl was beginning to 
be really distressed, and my observant parent changed the dis- 
course by a gentle and adroit expedient such as a woman alone 
knows thoroughly how to put in practice. It was simply hand- 
ing Mr. Warren a plate of greengages ; but the act was so per- 
formed as to change the discourse. 

During the whole of that meal I felt certain there was a 
bccret, mysterious communication between me and Mary "War- 
ren, which, while it probably did escape the notice of others, 
was perfectly evident to ourselves. This fact I felt to be true ; 
while there was a consciousness betrayed in Mary's blushes, 
and even in her averted eyes, that I found extremely eloquent 
on the same subject. 




THE UEDSKINS. 3u7 



CHAPTER XIX. 

** VTilh look, like patient JoVs, eschewing evil ; 
With motions graceful as a bird's in air ; 
Thou art, in sober truth, the veriest devil 
That o'er clinched fingers in a captive's hair." 

llED Jacket. 

Although an immense progress has been made in liberating 
tliis country from the domination of England, in the way of 
opinion and usages, a good deal remains to be done yet. Still, 
he who can look back forty years, must see the great changes 
that have occurred in very many things ; and it is to be hoped 
that he who lives forty years hence, will find very few remain- 
ing that have no better reasons for their existence amonof our- 
selves than the example of a people so remote, with a different 
climate, different social organization, and different wants. I 
am for no more condemning a usage, however, simply because 
it is English, than I am for approving it simply because it is 
English. I wish every thing to stand on its own merits, and 
feel certain that no nation ever can become great, in the higher 
signification of the term, until it ceases to imitate, because it is 
imitation of a certain fixed model. One of the very greatest 
evils of this imitative spirit is even now developing itself in 
what is called the "progress" of the country, which is assailing" 
principles that are as old as the existence of man, and whicli 
may almost be said to be eternal as social truths, at the very 
moment that notions derived from our ancestors are submitted 
to in the highest places, the Senate of the United States for 
example, that are founded in facts which not only have no 
existence among ourselves, but which arc positively antagonist 
to such as havo. So much easier is it to join iii the hurrah ] 
15 



U3S T n K R E D S K I \ S . 

of a "progress," than to ascertain whether it is making in the 
right direction, or whether it be progress at all. But, to return 
from things of moment to those of less concern. 

Among other customs to be condemned that we have derived 
from England, is the practice of the men sitting at table after 
the women have left it. Much as I may wish to see this every- 
way offensive custom done away with, and the more polished 
and humanizing usage of all the rest of Christendom adopted in 
its stead, I should feel ashamed at finding, as I make no doubt 
I should find it, that our custom would be abandoned within a 
twelvemonth after it might be understood it was abandoned in 
England. My uncle had long endeavored to introduce into our 
own immediate circle the practice of retaining the ladies at 
table for a reasonable time, and of then quitting it with them 
at the expiration of that time ; but it is hard to " kick against 
the pricks." Men who fancy it " society" to meet at cacli 
other's houses to drink wine, and taste wine, and talk about 
wine, and to outdo each other in giving their guests the 
most costly wines, are not to be diverted easily from their 
objects. The hard-drinking days are past, but the hard "talk- 
ing days" are in their vigor. If it could be understood, gen- 
erally, that even in England it is deemed vulgar to descant on 
the liquor that is put upon the table, perhaps we might get rid 
of the practice too. Vulgar in England! It is even deemed 
vulgar here, by the right sort, as I am ready to maintain, and 
indeed know of my own observation. That one or two friends 
who are participating in the benefits of some particularly benev- 
olent bottle, should say a word in commendation of its merits, 
is natural enough, and well enough ; no one can reasonably find 
any fault with such a sign of grateful feeling ; but I know of 
nothing more revolting than to see twenty grave faces arrayed 
around a table, employed as so many tasters at a Rhenish wine 
sale, Avhile the cheeks of their host look like those of Boreas, 
owing to the process of sucking syphons. 

When ray dear grandmother rose, imitated by the four 
bright-faced girls, who did as she set the example, and said, as 



THE UED SKINS. 339 

was customary witli the old school, " "Well, gentlemen, I leave 
you to your wine ; but you will recollect that you will be most 
welcome guests in the drawing-room," my uncle caught her 
hand, and insisted she should not quit us. There was some- 
thing exceedingly touching, to my eyes, in the sort of inter- 
course, and in the affection, Avhich existed between my uncle 
Ro and his mother. A bachelor himself, while she was a 
widow, they were particularly fond of each other ; and many 
is the time that I have seen him go up to her, when we were 
alone, and pat her cheeks, and then kiss them, as one might do 
to a much-beloved sister. My grandmother always received 
these little liberties with perfect good-humor, and with evident 
alfection. In her turn, I have frequently known her to ap- 
proach " Roger," as she always called hira, and kiss his bald 
head, in a way that denoted she vividly remembered the time 
Avhen he was an infant in her arras. On this occasion she 
yielded to his request, and resumed her seat, the girls imita- 
ting her, nothing loth, as they had done in rising. The con- 
versation then, naturally enough, reverted to the state of the 
country. 

"It hiis much surprised me, that the men in authority 
among us have confined all their remarks and statements to 
the facts of the Rensselaer and Livingston estates," observed my 
grandmother, " when there arc difficulties existing in so many 
others." 

"The explanation is very simple, my good mother," an- 
swered uncle Ro. " The Rensselaer estates have the quarter- 
sales, and chickens, and days' works; and there is much of the 
ad captandum ai-gument about such things, that does very well 
to work up for political effect ; whereas, on the other estates, 
these great auxiliaries must be laid aside. It is just as certain, 
as it is that the sim has risen this day, that an extensive and 
concerted plan exists to transfer the freehold rights of the land- 
lords, on nearly every property in the state, to the tenants ; 
and that, too, on conditions mijiistly fiworable to the last; but 
you will lind nothing of tii.^ sort in llie messages of governors. 



340 THE REDSKINS. 

or speeches of legislators, who seem to think all is said, when 
they have dwelt on the expediency of appeasing the complaints 
of the tenants, as a high political duty, without stopping to 
inquire whether those complaints are founded in right or not. 
The injury that will be done to the republic, by showing men 
how much can be effected by clamor, is of itself incalculable. 
It would take a generation to do away the evil consequences of 
the example, were the anti-rent combination to be utterly de- 
feated to-morrow." 

" I find that the general argument against the landlords is a 
want of title, in those cases in which nothing better can be 
found," observed Mr. Warren. "The lecturer, to-day, seemed 
to condemn any title that was derived from the king, as de- 
feated by the conquest over that monarch, by the war of the 
revolution." 

" A most charming consummation that would have been for 
the heroic deeds of the Littlepages ! There were my father, 
grandfather, and great-grandfather, all in arms, in that war; 
the two first as general officers, and the last as a major ; and 
the result of all their hardships and dangers is to be to rob 
themselves of their own property ! I am aware that this silly 
pretence has been urged, even in a court of justice ; but folly, 
and wrong, and madness, are not yet quite ripe enough among 
us, to carry such a doctrine down. As 'coming events cast 
their shadows before,' it is possible we are to take this very 
movement, however, as the dawn of the approaching day of 
American reason, and not as a twilight left by the departed 
rays of a sun of a period of mental darkness." 

"You surely do not apprehend, uncle Ro, that these people 
can really get Hugh's lands away from him !" exclaimea Patt, 
reddening with anxiety and anger. 

"No one can say, ray dear; for, certainly, no one is safe 
when opinions and acts, like those which have been circulated 
and attempted among us of late years, can be acted on without 
awakenino- very general indignation. Look to the moneyed 
classes at this very moment, agonized and excited on the sub- 



THE REDSKINS. 34] 

ject of a war about Oregon — a thing very little likely to occur, 
thougli certainly possible ; wbile they manifest the utmost in- 
difference to this anti-rentisra, though the positive existence of 
every thing connected -with just social organization is directly 
involved in its fate. One is a bare possibility, but it convulses 
the class I have named ; -while the other is connected with the 
existence of ci^dlized society itself; yet it has ceased to attract 
attention, and is nearly forgotten ! Every man in tho commu- 
nity, whose means raise him at all above the common level, has 
a direct interest in facing this danger, and in endeavoring to put 
it down ; but scarcely any one appears to be conscious of the 
importance of the crisis. We have only one or two more steps 
to make, in order to become like Turkey ; a country in which 
the wealthy are obliged to conceal their means, in order to pro- 
tect it from the grasp of the government ; but no one seems to 
care at all about it !" 

" Some recent travellers among us have said that we have 
nearly reached that pass already, as our rich affect great sim- 
plicity and plainness in public, while they fill their houses in 
private with all the usual evidences of wealth and luxury. I 
think De Tocqueville, among others, makes that remark." 

" Ay, that is merely one of the ordinarily sagacious remarks 
of the Europeans, who, by not understanding the American 
history, confound causes and make mistakes. The plainness 
of things in public is no more than an ancient habit of tho 
country, while the elegance and luxury in private are a very 
simple and natural consequence of the tastes oi women who 
live in a state of society in which they arc limited to the very 
minimum of refined habits and intellectual pleasures. The 
writer who made this mistake is a very clever man, and has ex- 
ceeding merit, considering his means of ascertaining truth ; but 
he lias made evry many similar blunders." 

" Nevertheless, Mr. Littlepage," resumed the rector, who 
was a gentleman, in all the senses of the word, and kncw^ the 
world, and the best part of it, too, even while he had pre 
served an admirable simplicity of character, "changes hav 



342 THE REDSKINS. 

certainly taken place among ns, of the nature alluded to by M. 
de Tocqueville." 

"That is quite true, sir; but they have also taken place else- 
where. When I was a boy, I can well remember to have seen 
coaches-and-six in this country, and almost every man of for- 
tune drove his coach-and-four ; Avhereas, now such a thing is 
of the rarest occurrence possible. But the same is true all 
over Christendom ; for when T first went to Europe, coaches-and- 
six, with outriders, and all that sort of state, was an every-day 
thing ; whereas it is now never, or at least very seldom, seen. 
Improved roads, steamboats, and railroads, can produce such 
changes, without having recourse to the oppression of the 
masses." 

"I am sure," put in Patt, laughing, "if publicity be what 
Mons. De Tocqueville requires, there is publicity enough in New 
York ! All the new-fashioned houses are so constructed, with 
their low balconies and lower windows, that any body can see 
in at their windows. If what I have read and heard of a Paris 
liouse be true, standing between cour et jardin, there is infinite- 
ly more of privacy there than here ; and one might just as 
well say that the Parisians bury themselves behind poric cocheres, 
and among trees, to escape the attacks of the Faubourg St. 
Antoine, as to say we retreat into our houses to be fine, lest 
the mobocracy would not tolerate us." 

"The girl has profited by your letters, I sec, Hugh," said 
my uncle, nodding his head in approbation ; " and what is 
more, she makes a suitable application of her tuition, or rather, 
of yours. No, no, all that is a mistake ; and, as Martha says, 
no houses are so much in the street as those of the new style 
in our own towns. It would be far more just to say that, in- 
stead of retiring within doors to be fine, as Patt calls it, unseen 
by envious neighbors, the Manhattanese, in particular, turn 
their dwellings wrong side out, lest their neighbors should take 
ofience at not being permitted to see all that is going on with- 
in. But, neither is true. The house is the more showy be- 
cause it is most under woman's control ; and it would be just 



THE REDSKINS. o-iS 

as near tlic truth to say that the reasou "vvliy the Amcricaiv men 
appear abroad in plain blue, and blact, and brown clothes, 
while their wives and daughters are at home in silks and satins 
— ay, even in modern brocades — is an apprehension of the 
masses, as to ascribe the plainness of street life, compared to 
that within doors, to the same cause. There is a good deal of 
difference between a salon in the Faubourg, or the Chaussee 
d'Antin, and even on the Boulevard des Italiens. But, John 
is craning with his neck, out there on the piazza, as if our red 
brethren were at hand." 

So it was, in point of fact, and every body now rose from 
table, without ceremony, and went forth to meet our guests. 
We had barely time to reach the lawn, the ladies having run 
for their hats in the mean time, before Prairiefire, Flintyheart, 
Manytongues, and all the rest of them, came up, on the sort of 
half trot that distinguishes an Indian's march. 

Notwithstanding the change in our dresses, my uncle and 
myself were instantly recognized, and courteously saluted by 
the principal chiefs. Then our wigs were gravely offered to 
us, by two of the younger men ; but we declined receiving 
them, begging the gentlemen who had them in keeping, to do 
us the honor to accept them, as tokens of our particular I'cgard. 
This was done with great good-will, and with a pleasure that 
was much too obvious to be concealed. Half an hour later, I 
observed that each of the young forest dandies had a wig on 
liis otherwise naked head, with a peacock's feather stuck quite 
knowingly in the lank hair. The effect was somewhat ludi- 
crous; particularly on the young ladies; but I saw that eacli of 
the warriors himself looked round, as if to ask for the admiration 
that he felt his appearance ought to awaken ! 

No sooner were the siilutatlons exchanged, than the red-men 
began to examine the house — the cliff on which it stood — the 
meadows beneath, and the surrounding ground. At first, wo 
supposed that they were struck with the extent and solidity of 
the buildings, together with a certain air of finish and neatness, 
that is not everywhere seen in America, even in the vicinity of 



844 THE KED SKINS. 

its better-class houses ; but Mauytongues soon undeceived us. 
My uncle asked him, why all the red-men had broken off, and 
scattered themselves around the buildings, some looking here, 
others pointing there, and all manifestly earnest and much 
engaged with something ; though it was not easy to understand 
what that something was ; intimating his supposition that they 
might be struck with the buildings. 

"Lord bless ye, no sir," answered the interpreter; "they 
don't care a straw about the house, or any house. There's 
Flintyheart, in particular ; he's a chief that you can no more 
move with riches, and large housen, and sichlike matters, than 
you can make the Mississippi run up stream. When we went 
to Uncle Sam's house, at Washington, he scarce condescended 
to look at it ; and the Capitol had no more effect on any on 
'em, than if it had been a better sort of wigwam ; not so much, 
for that matter, as Injins be curious in wigwams. Wliat's put 
'em up, on a trail like, just now, is the knowledge that this is 
the spot where a battle was fit, something like ninety seasons 
ago, in which the Upright Onondago was consarned, as well as 
some of their own people on t'other side — that's what's put 'em 
in commotion." 

"And why does Flintyheart talk to those around him with 
so much energy ; and point to the flats, and the cliff, and the 
ravine yonder, that lies beyond the wigwam of Susquesus ?" 

"Ah ! is that, then, the wigwam of the Upright Onondago!" 
exclaimed the interpreter, betraying some such interest as one 
might manifest on unexpectedly being told that he saw Mount 
Vernon or Monticello, for the first time in his life. "Well, it's 
something to have seen that ; though it will be more to see the 
man himself; for all the tribes on the upper prairies, are full 
of his story and his behavior. No Injin, since the time of 
Taraenund himself, has made as much talk, of late years, as 
Susquesus, the Upright Onondago, unless it might be Tecum- 
the, perhaps. But what occupies Flintyheart, just at this mo- 
ment, is an account of the battle, in which his father's grand- 
father lost his life, though he did not lose his scalp. That dis- 



THE REDSKINS. 345 

grace he is now telling on 'em, lie escaped, and glad enough is 
his descendant, that it was so. It's no great matter to an Injin 
to be killed ; but he'd rather escape losing his scalp, or being 
struck at all by the inimy, if it can possibly be made to turn 
out so. Now he's talking of some young pale-face that was 
killed, whom he calls Lover of Fun — and, now he's got on some 
niggor, who he says fit like a devil." 

" All these persons are known to us, by our traditions, also!" 
exclaimed my uncle, with more interest than I had known him 
manifest for many a day. "But I'm amazed to find that the 
Indians retain so accurate an account of such small matters, for 
so long a time." 

*' It isn't a small matter to them. Their battles is seldom on 
a very great scale, and they make great account of any skrim- 
mage in which noted wari'iors have fallen." Here Many tongues 
paused for a minute, and listened attentively to the discourse 
of the chiefs ; after which he resumed his explanations. *' They 
have met with a great difiiculty in the house," he continued, 
" while every thing else is right. They understand the clifi" of 
rocks, the position of the buildings themselves, that ravine 
thereaway, and all the rest of the things hereabouts, except the 
house." 

" Wliat may be the difficulty with the house ? Docs it not 
stand in the place it ought to occupy !" 

"That's just their difficulty. It does stand where it ought 
to stand, but it isn't the right sox*t of house, though they say 
the shape agrees well enough — one side out to the fields, like ; 
two sides running back to the cliff, and the cliff itself for the 
other. But their traditions say that their warriors indivor'd to 
burn out your forefathers, and that they built a fire again' the 
side of the buildin', which they never would have done hud it 
been built of stone, as this house is built. ThaCs what partic- 
'larly puzzles them." 

"Then their traditions are surprisingly minute and accurate ! 
The house which then stood on, or near this spot, and which 
did resemble the present building in the ground plan, xvas of 



346 THE n E D S K I N S . 

squared logs, and miglit tave been set on fire, and an attempt 
was actually made to do so, but was successfully resisted. Your 
chiefs have had a true account ; but changes have been made 
here. The house of logs stood near fifty years, when it was 
replaced by this dwelling, which was originally erected about 
sixty years ago, and has been added to since, on the old design. 
No, no — the traditions are surprisingly accurate." 

This gave the Indians great satisfaction, as soon as the fact 
was communicated to them ; and from that instant all their 
doubts and uncertainty were ended. Their own knowledge of 
the progress of things in a settlement, gave them the means of 
comprehending any other changes ; though the shape of this 
building having so nearly corresponded with that of which their 
traditions spoke, they had become embarrassed by the differ- 
ence in the material. While they were still continuing their 
examinations, and ascertaining localities to their own satisftic- 
tion, my uncle and myself continued the discourse with Many- 
tongues. 

"I am curious to know," said my uncle, "what may be the 
history of Susquesus, that a party of chiefs like these should 
travel so far out of their way, to pay him the homage of a visit. 
Is his great age the cause ?" 

"That is one reason, sartainly ; though there is another, 
that is of more account, but which is known only to themselves. 
I have often tried to get the history out of them, but never 
could succeed. As long as I can remember, the Onondagoes, 
and Tuscaroras, and the Injlns of the old New York tribes, that 
have found their way up to the prairies, have talked of the 
Upright Onondago, who must have been an old man when I 
was born. Of late years, they have talked more and more of 
him ; and so good an opportunity oft'ering to come and see 
him, there would have been great disappointment out West, 
had it been neglected, llis age is no doubt, one principal 
cause ; but there is another, though I have never been able to 
discover what it is." 

"This Indian has been in communication, and connected 



THE REDSKINS. ^ 34l 

with ray immediate family, now near, if not quite ninety years. 
He was with my grandfather, Cornehus Littlepage, in the attacl: 
on Ty, that was made by Abercrombie, in 1758 ; and here we are 
within twelve or thirteen years of a century from that event. I 
believe my great-grandfather, Herman Mordaunt, had even some 
previous knowledge of him. As long as I can remember, he 
has been a gray-headed old man ; and we suppose both he and 
the negro who Uves with him, to have seen fully a hundred and 
twenty years, if not more." 

" Something of importance happened to Susquesus, or the 
Trackless, as he was then called, about ninety-three winters ago ; 
that much I've gathered from what has fallen from the cliiefs at 
different times ; but what that something was, it has exceeded 
my means to discover. At any rate, it has quite as much to do 
with this visit, as the Withered Hemlock's great age. Injins 
respect years ; and they respect wisdom highly ; but they re- 
spect courage and justice most of all. The tarm ' Upright' has 
its meaning, depend on't." 

AVe Avere greatly interested by all this, as indeed were my 
grandmother and her sweet companions. Mary Warren, in 
particular, manifested a lively interest in Susquesus's history, 
as was betrayed in a brief dialogue I now had with her, walking 
to and fro in front of the piazza, while the rest of the party Avcre 
curiously watching the movements of the still excited savages. 

" My father and I have often visited the two old men, and 
have been deeply interested in them," observed this intelligent, 
yet simple-minded girl — " with the Indian, in particular, we 
have felt a strong sympathy, for nothing is plainer than the 
keenness with which he still feels on the subject of his own 
people. We have been told that he is often visited by red-men 
— or, at least, as often as any come near him ; and they are said 
ever to exhibit a great reverence for his yeai-s, and respect for 
his character." 

" This I know to be true, for I have frcqucnth' seen those 
who have come to pay him visits. But they have usually beeu 
merely your basket-making, half-and-half sort of savages, who 



348 THE REDSKIN 8. 

have possessed the characteristics of neither race, entirely. Tliia 
is the first instance in which I have heard of so marked a dem- 
onstration of respect — how is that, dear grandmother ? can 
you recall any other instance of Susquesus's receiving such a 
decided mark of homage from his own people as this?" 

" This is the third within my recollection, Hugh. Shortly 
after my marriage, which was not long after the revolution, as 
yon may know, there was a party here on a visit to Susquesus. 
It remained ten days. The chiefs it contained were said to be 
Onondagoes altogether, or warriors of his own particular peo- 
ple ; and something like a misunderstanding was reported to 
have been made up ; though what it was, I confess I was too 
thoughtless then to inquire. Both my father-in-law, and my 
uncle Chainbearer, it was always believed, knew the whole of 
the Trackless' s story, though neither ever related it to me. I 
do not believe your grandfather knew it," added the venerable 
speaker, with a sort of tender regret, "or I think I should have 
heard it. But that first visit was soon after Susquesus and Jaaf 
took possession of their house, and it was reported, at the 
time, that the strangers remained so long, in the hope of induc- 
ing Sus to rejoin his tribe. If such was their wish, however, it 
failed ; for there he is now, and there he has ever been since he 
first went to the hut." 

"And the second visit, grandmother — you mentioned that 
there were three." 

"Oh! tell us of them all, Mrs. Littlepagc," added Mary 
earnestly, blushing up to the eyes the moment after at her own 
eagerness. My dear grandmother smiled benevolently on 
both, and I thought she looked a little archly at us, as old 
ladies sometimes will, when the images of their own youth recur 
to their minds. 

" You appear to have a common sympathy in these rod-men, 
my children," she answered, Mary fairly blushing scarlet at 
hearing herself thus coupled with me in the term "children," 
— " and I have great pleasure in gratifying your curiosity. 
The second great visit that Susquesus received from Indians oc- 



THE EEDSKINS. 349 

curred tlac very year you were born, Hugh, and then :ve really 
felt afraid we might lose the old man ; so earnest were his own 
people in their entreaties that he would go away with them. 
But he Avould not. Here he has remained ever since, and a 
few weeks ago he told me that here he should die. If these 
Indians hope to prevail any better, I am sure they will be dis- 
appointed." 

" So he told my father, also," added Mary "Warren, " who 
has often spoken to him of death, and has hoped to open his 
eyes to the truths of the gospel." 

" With what success, Miss Warren ? That is a consum- 
mation which would terminate the old man's career most 
worthily." 

" With little, I fear," answered the charming girl, in a low, 
melancholy tone. "At least, I know that my father has been 
disappointed. Sus hstens to him attentively, but he manifests 
no feeling beyond respect for the speaker. Attempts have been 
made to induce him to enter the church before, but " 

" You were about to add something, Miss Warren, which still 
remains to be said." 

" I can add it for her," resumed my grandmother, " for cer- 
tain I am that Mary Warren will never add it herself. The 
fact is, as you must know, Hugh, from your own obser^'ation, 
that Mr. Warren's predecessor was an unfaithful and selfish ser- 
vant of the church — one who did little good to any, not even 
himself. In this country it takes a good deal in a clergyman, 
to wear out the patience of a people ; but it can be done ; and 
when they once get to look at him through the same medium 
as that with which other men are viewed, a reaction follows, 
under which he is certain to suffer. We could all wish to throw 
a veil over the conduct of the late incumbent of St. Andrew's, 
but it requires one so much thicker and larger than common, 
that the task is not easy. Mary has merely meant that better 
instruction, and a closer attention to duty, might have done 
more for Trackless twenty years ago, than they can do to-day." 

" How much injury, after all, faithless ministers can do to the 



350 THE REDSKINS. 

church of God ! One such bad example unsettles more minds 
than twenty good examples keep steady." 

"I do not know that, Hugh ; but of one thing I am certain 
— that more evil is done by pretending to struggle for the 
honor of the church, by attempting to sustain its unworthy 
ministers, than could be done by at once admitting their 
offences, in cases that are clear. We all know that the minis- 
ters of the altar are but men, and as such are to be expected to 
fall — certain to do so without Divine aid — but if we cannot 
make its ministers pure, we ought to do all we can to keep the 
altar itself from contamination." 

" Yes, yes, grandmother — but the day has gone by for ex 
officio religion in the American branch of the church" — here 
Mary Warren joined the other girls — " at least. And it is so 
best. Suspicions may be base and unworthy, but a blind cre- 
dulity is contemptible. If I see a chestnut forming on yonder 
branch, it would be an act of exceeding folly in me to suppose 
that the tree was a walnut, though all the nursery-men in tlic 
country were ready to swear to it." 

My grandmother smiled, but she also walked away, when I 
joined my uncle again. 

"The interpreter tells me, Hugh," said the last, "that the 
chiefs wish to pay their first visit to the hut this evening. 
Luckily, the old farm-house is empty just now, since Miller has 
taken possession of the new one ; and I have directed Mr. 
Manytongues to establish himself there, while he and his party 
remain here. There is a kitchen, all ready for their use, and it 
is only to send over a few cooking utensils, that is to say, a pot 
or two, and fifty bundles of straw, to set them up in house- 
keeping. For all this I have just given orders, not wishing to 
disturb you, or possibly unwilling to lay down a guardian's 
authority ; and there is the straw already loading up in yonder 
barn-yard. In half an hour they may rank themselves among 
the pot-wallopers of Ravensnest." 

" Shall we go with them to the house before or after they 
have paid their visit to Susqucsus ?" 



THE RED SKINS. 351 

" Before, certainly. Joliii lias volunteered to go over and 
lot tlie Onondago know the honor that is intended him, and to 
assist him in making his toilet ; for the red-man would not like 
to be taken in undress any more than another. While this is 
doing, we can install our guests in their new abode, and see the 
preparations commenced for their suppper. As for the 'Injins,'' 
there is little to apprehend from them, I fancy, so long as we 
have a strong party of the real Simon Pures within call." 

After this, we invited the interpreter to lead his chiefs to- 
ward the dwelling they were to occupy, preceding the party 
ourselves, and leaving the ladies on the lawn. At that season, 
the days were at the longest, and it would be pleasanter to pay 
the visit to the hut in the cool of the evening than to go at an 
earlier hour. My grandmother ordered her covered wagon be- 
fore we left her, intending to bD present at an interview which 
every body felt must be most interesting. 

The empty building which was^hus appropriated to the use 
of the Indians was quite a century old, having been erected by 
ray ancestor, Herman Mordaunt, as the original farm-house on 
his own particular farm. For a long time it had been used in 
its original character; and when it was found convenient to 
erect another, in a more eligible spot, and of more convenient 
form, this old structure had been preserved as a relic, and from 
year to year its removal had been talked of, but not eliccted. 
It remained, therefore, for me to decide on its fate, unless, in- 
deed, the " spirit of the institutions" should happen to got hold 
of it, and take its control out of my hands, along with that of 
the rest of my property, by way of demonstrating to mankind 
how thoroughly the great state of New York is imbued with a 
love of rational liberty ! 

As we walked toward the "old farm-house," Miller xime 
from the other building to meet us. He had learned that his 
friends, the peddlers, were his — what shall I call myself^ "Mas- 
ter" would be the le(/al term, and it would be good English ; 
but it Avould give the "honorable gentleman" and his friends 
mortal oll'cnce, and I am not now to loarn that there arc those 



•''.52 THE REDSKINS. 

among us who denj^ facts that are as plain as the noses on their 
faces, and who fly right into the face of the law whenever it is 
convenient. I shall not, however, call myself a "boss" to 
please even these eminent statesmen, and therefore must be 
content with using a term that, if the moving spirits of the day 
can prevail, will soon be sufficiently close in its signification, 
and call myself Tom Miller's — nothing. 

It was enough to see that Miller was a good deal embarrassed 
with the dilemma in which he was placed. For a great many 
years he and his family had been in the employment of me and 
mine, receiving ample pay, as all such men ever do — when they 
are so unfortunate as to serve a malignant aristocrat — much 
higher pay than they would get in the service of your New- 
comes, your Holmscs and Tubbses, besides for better treatment in 
all essentials ; and now he had only to carry out the principles 
of the anti-renters to claim the farm he and they had so long 
Avorked, as of right. Yes, the 'same principles would just as soon 
give this hireling my home and farm as it would give any tenant 
on my estate that which he worked. It is true, one party 
received wages, while the other paid rent ; but these facts do 
not affect the principle at all ; since he who received the wages 
got no other benefit from his toil, while he who paid the rent 
was master of all the crops — I beg pardon, the boss of all the 
crops. The common title of both — if any title at all exist — 
is the circumstance that each had expended his labor on a par- 
ticular farm, and consequently had a right to own it for all 
future time. 

Miller made some awkward apologies for not recognizing me, 
and endeavored to explain away one or two little things that he 
must have felt put him in rather an awkward position, but to 
which neither my uncle nor myself attached any moment. We 
knew that poor Tom was human, and that the easiest of all 
transgressions for a man to fall into were those connected with 
his self-love ; and that the temptation to a man who has the 
consciousness of not being anywhere near the summit of the 
Bocial ladder, is a strong inducement to err when he thinks there 



THE RKDSKINS. 'tiila 

is a chance of getting up a round or two ; failing of success in 
which, it requires higher feelings, and perhaps a higher station, 
than that of Tom Miller's, not to leave him open to a certain 
demoniacal gratification which so many experience at the pros- 
pect of beholding others dragged down to their own level. Wc 
heard Tom's excuses kindly, but did not commit ourselves by 
promises or declarations of any sort. 



35i THE REDSKINS. 



CHAPTER XX. 



" Two Inimlrod years! two hiimlrccl years! 
How uiuch of human power and pride, 
What glorious hopes, what gloomy fears. 
Have simk beneath their noiseless tide !" 



It wanted about an hour to sunset — or snn-down, to use our 
common Americanism — when we all left the new quarters or 
our red brethren, in order to visit the huts. As the moment 
approached, it was easy to trace in the Indians the evidence of 
strong interest; mingled, as we fancied, with a little awe. 
Several of the chiefs had improved the intervening time, to 
retouch the wild conceits that they had previously painted on 
their visages, rendering their countenances still more appalling. 
Flintyheart, in particular, was conspicuous in his grim embel- 
lishments ; though Prairicfii'c had not laid any veil between the 
eye and his natural hue. 

As the course of my narrative will now render it necessary 
to relate conversations that occurred in languages and dialects 
of which I know literally nothing, it may be well to say here, 
once for all, that I got as close a translation of every thing that 
passed, as it was possible to obtain, from Manytongues ; and 
wrote it all down, either on the spot, or immediately after rc- 
turnino" to the Nest. This explanation may be necessary in 
order to prevent some of those who may read this manuscript, 
from fancying that I am inventing. 

The carriage of my grandmother had left the door, filled 
with its smiling freight, several minutes before we took up our 
line of march. This last, however, was not done without a 
little ceremony, and some attention to order. As Indians rarely 



THE REDSKINS. 855 

march except iii -vvliat is called " Iiidiau file," or singly, each 
man following in the footsteps of his leader, such was the mode 
of advancing adopted on the present occasion. Tho Prairiefire 
led the line, as the oldest chief, and the one most distinguished 
in council. Flintyheart was second, Avhile the others were 
arranged by some rule of precedency that was known to them- 
selves. As soon as the line had formed, it commenced its 
inarch ; my uncle, the interpreter, and myself walking at the 
side of Prairiefire, while Miller, followed by half-a-dozen of the 
curious from the Nest House and the farm, followed in the rear. 

It will be remembered that John had been sent to the hut to 
announce the intended visit. His stay had been much longer 
than was anticipated ; but when the procession had gone about 
half the distance it was to march, it was met by this faithful 
domestic, on his return. The worthy fellow wheeled into line, 
on my flank, and communicated what he had to say while 
keeping up with the column. 

"To own the truth, Mr. Hugh," he said, "the old man was 
more moved by hearing that about fifty Indians had come a 
long distance to see him — " 

" Seventeen — you should have said seventeen, John ; that 
being the exact number." 

"Is it, sir? AVell, •! declare that I thought there might be 
fifty — I once thought of calling 'em forty, sir, but it then oc- 
curred to me that it might not be enough." All this time John 
was looking over his shoulder to count the grave-lookin<T warriors 
who followed in a line ; and satisfied of his mistake, one of the 
commonest in the world for men of his class, that of exaggera- 
tion, he resumed his report. " Well, sir, I do believe you are 
right, and I have been a little hout. But old Sus was quite 
moved, sir, when I told him of the intended visit, and so I 
stayed to help the old gentleman to dress and paint ; for that 
nigger, Yop, is of no more use now, you know, sir, than if he 
had never lived in a gentleman's family at all. It must have 
been Lawful times, sir, when the gentry of York had nothing 
but niggers to sers'e 'em, sir." 



356 THE REDSKINS. 

" We did pretty well, John, notwithstanding," answered my 
uncle, Avho had a strong attachment to the old black race, that 
once so generally filled all the menial stations of the country, as 
is apt to be the case with all gentlemen of fifty ; " we did pretty 
well, notwithstanding. Jaaf, however, never acted strictly as a 
body-servant, though he was my grandfather's own man." 

" Well, sir, if there had been nobody but Yop at the hut, 
Sus would never have been decently dressed and painted for 
this occasion. As it is, I hope that you will be satisfied, sir, 
for the old gentleman looks remarkably well ; — Indian fashion^ 
you know, sir." 

" Did the Onondago ask any questions ?" 

" Why, you know how it is with him in that particular, Mr. 
Hugh. He's a very silent person, is Susquesus ; most remark- 
able so when he 'as any one has can entertain him with con- 
versation. / talked most of the time myself, sir, has I common- 
ly does when I pays him a wisit. Indians is remarkably silent, 
in general, I believe, sir." 

"And whose idea was it to paint and dress — yours, or the 
Onondago's ?" 

"Why, sir, I supposes the hidear to be Indian, by origin, 
though in this case it was ray suggestion. Yes, sir, I suggested 
the thought; though I will not take it* on myself to say Sus 
had not some hinclination that way, even before I 'inted my 
hopinion." 

" Did you think of the paint 1" put in uncle Eo. " I do not 
remember to have seen the Trackless in his paint these thirty 
years. I once asked him to paint and dress ou a Fourth of 
July ; it was about the time you were born, Hugh — and I re- 
member the old fellow's answer as well as if it were given yester- 
day. 'When the tree ceases to bear fruit,' was the substance 
of his reply, ' blossoms only remind the observer of its useless- 
ness.' " 

"I have heard that Susquesus Avas once considered very elo- 
quent, even for an Indian." 

" I remember him to have had some such reputation, though 



THE REDSKINS. 357 

I will uot answer for its justice. Occasionally, I have heard 
strong expressions in his brief, clipping manner of speaking 
English — but in common, he has been content to be simple and 
taciturn. I remember to have heard my father say that when 
he first made the acquaintance of Susquesus, and that must have 
been quite sixty years since, the old man had great apprehen- 
sion of being reduced to the mortifying necessity of making 
baskets and brooms ; but, his dread on that subject once re- 
moved, he had ever after seemed satisfied and without care." 

'* Without care is the condition of those who have least, I 
believe, sir. It would not be an easy matter for the govern- 
ment of New York to devise ways and means to deprive Sus of 
his farms, either by instituting suits for title, destroying quarter- 
sales, laying taxes, or resorting to any other of the ingenious 
expedients known to the Albany politics." 

My uncle did not answer for quite a minute ; when he did, 
it was thoughtfully and with great deliberation of manner. 

" Your term of ' Albany politics' has recalled to my mind," 
he said, " a consideration that has often forced itself upon my 
reflections. There is doubtless an advantage — nay, there may 
be a necessity for cutting up the local affairs of this country, by 
intrusting their management to so many local governments ; 
but there is, out of all question, one great evil consequent on 
it. When legislators have the great affairs of state on their 
hands, the making of war and peace, the maintaining of armies, 
and the control of all those interests which connect one coun- 
try with another, the mind gets to be enlarged, and with it the 
character and disposition of the man. But, bring men to- 
gether, who must act, or appear incapable of acting, and set 
them at work upon the smaller concerns of legislation, and it's 
ten to one but they betray the narrowness of their education by 
the narrowness of their views. This is the reason of the vast 
difference that every intelligent man knows to exist between 
Albany and Washington." 

"Do you then think our legislators so mucli inferior to those 
of Europe ?" 



S5S THE REDSKINS. 

" Only as tliey are provincial ; Avliicli nine in ten necessarily 
are, since nine Americans in ten, even among the educated 
classes, are decidedly provincial. This term ' provincial' covers 
quite one-half of the distinctive sins of the country, though 
many laugh at a deficiency, of which, in the nature of things, 
they can have no notion, as purely a matter of the imagination. 
The active communications of the Americans certainly render 
them surprisingly little obnoxious to such a charge, for their 
age and geographical position. These last disadvantages pro- 
duce effects, nevertheless, that are perhaps unavoidable. When 
you have had an opportunity of seeing something of the society 
of the towns, for instance, after your intercourse with the world 
of Europe, you will understand what I mean, for it is a difter- 
ence much more readily fdt than described. Provincialism, 
however, may be defined as a general tendency to the narrow 
views which mark a contracted association, and an ignorance of 
the great world — not in the sense of station solely, but in the 
sense of liberality, intelligence, and a knowledge of all the 
varied interests of life. But, here we are, at the hut." 

There we were, sure enough. The evening was delightful. 
Susquesus had seated himself on a stool, on the green sward 
that extended for some distance around the door of his habita- 
tion, and where he was a little in shade, protected from the 
strong rays of a setting, but June, sun. A tree cast its shadow 
over his person. Jaaf was posted on one side, as no doubt, he 
himself thought best became his color and character. It is 
another trait of human nature, that while the negro affects a 
great contempt and aversion for the red-man, the Indian feels 
his own mental superiority to the domestic slave. I had never 
seen Susquesus in so grand costume, as that in which he ap- 
peared this evening. Habitually he wore his Indian vestments; 
the leggings, moccasin, breech-piece, blanket or calico shirt, ac- 
cording to the season ; but I had never before seen him in his 
ornaments and paint. The first consisted of two medals which 
bore the images, the one of George III., the other of his grand- 
Tr'ther — of two more, bestowed by the agents of the republic ; 



THE REDSKINS. 359 

of Large rings in his ears, that dropped nearly to his shoulders, 
and of bracelets formed of the teeth of some animal, that, at 
first, I was afraid was a man. A tomahawk that was kept as 
bright as friction could make it, and a sheathed knife, were in 
liis girdle, Avhile his well-tried rifle stood leaning against a tree; 
weapons that were now exhibited as emblems of the past, since 
their owner could scarcely render either very effective. The 
old man had used the paint with unusual judgment for an In- 
dian, merely tinging his cheeks with a color that served to give 
brightness to eyes that had once been keen as intense expres- 
sion could render them, but which were now somewhat dimmed 
by age. In other respects, nothing was changed in the cus- 
tomary neat simplicity that reigned in and around the cabin, 
though Jaaf had brought out, as if to sun, an old livery coat of 
his own, that he had formerly worn, and a cocked hat, in which 
I have been told he was wont actually to exhibit himself of Sun- 
daj's, and holidays ; reminders of the superiority of a " nigger" 
over an "Injin." 

Three or four rude benches, which belonged to the establish- 
ment of the hut, were placed at a short distance in front of 
Susquesus, in a sort of semicircle, for the reception of his 
guests. Toward these benches, then, Paririefire led the wav, 
followed by all the chiefs. Although they soon ranged theni- 
selves in the circle, not one took his seat for fully a minute. 
That time they all stood gazing intently, but reverently, to 
ward the aged man before them, who returned their look as 
steadily and intently as it was given. Then, at a signal from 
their leader, who on this occasion was Prairiefire, every man 
seated himself. This change of position, liowever, did not 
cause the silence to be broken ; but there they all sat, for quite 
ten minutes, gazing at the Upright Onondago, Avho, in his turn, 
kept his look steadily fastened on his visitors. It was during 
this interval of silence that the carriage of my grandmother 
drove up, and stopped just without the circle of grave, atten- 
tive Indian.5, not one of whom even turned his head to ascer- 
tain who or what caused the interruption. No one spoke ; my 



360 THE REDSKINS. 

dear grandmother being a profoundly attentive observer of the 
scene, while all the bright faces around her, were so many elo- 
quent pictures of curiosity, blended with some gentler and bet- 
ter feelings, exhibited in the most pleasing form of which 
humanity is susceptible. 

At length Susquesus himself arose, which he did with great 
dignity of manner, and without any visible bodily effort, and 
spoke. His voice was a little tremulous, I thought, though 
more through feeling than age ; but, on the whole, he was calm, 
and surprisingly connected and clear considering his great age. 
Of course, I was indebted to Manytongues for the interpretation 
of all that passed. 

"Brethren," commenced Susquesus, "you are welcome. 
You have travelled on a long, and crooked, and thorny path, 
to find an old chief, whose tribe ought ninety summers ago to 
have looked upon him as among the departed. I am sorry no 
better sight will meet your eyes at the end of so long a jour- 
ney. I would make the path back toward the setting sun 
broader and straighter if I knew how. But I do not know 
how. I am old. The pine in the woods is scarce older; the 
villages of the pale-faces, through so many of which you have 
journeyed, are not half so old ; I was born when the white 
race were like the moose on the hills ; here and there one ; 
now they are like the pigeons after they have hatched their 
young. When I Avas a boy my young legs could never run out 
of the woods into a clearing ; now, my old legs cannot carry 
me into the woods, they are so far off. Every thing is changed 
in the land, but the red-man's heart. That is like the rock 
which never alters. My children, you are welcome. " 

That speech, pronounced in the deep husky tones of extreme 
old age, yet relieved by the fire of a spirit that was smothered 
rather than extinct, produced a profound impression. A low 
murmur of admiration passed among the guests, though neither 
rose to answer, until a sufficient time had seemed to pass, m 
which the wisdom that they had just been listeners to might 
make its proper impression. When this pause was thought to 



THE REDSKINS. 361 

be sufficiently long to have produced its effect, Prairiefire, a 
chief more celebrated in council even than in the field, arose 
to answer. His speech, freely translated, was in the following 
words. 

"Father: your words are always wise — they are always 
true. The path between your wigwam and our villages is a 
long one — it is a crooked path, and many thorns and stones 
have been found on it But all difficulties may be overcome. 
Two moons ago, we were at one end of it ; now we are at the 
other end. We have come with two notches on our sticks. 
One notch told us to go to the Great Council House of the 
pale-face, to see our great pale-face father — the other notch told 
us to come here, to see our great red father. We have been 
to the great Council House of the pale-faces ; we have seen 
Uncle Sam. His arm is very long ; it reaches from the salt 
lake, the water of which we tried to drink, but it is too salt, to 
our own lakes, near the setting sun, of which the water is sweet. 
We never tasted water that was salt before, and we do not find 
it pleasant. We shall never taste it again; it is not worth while 
to come so far to drink water that is salt. 

" Uncle Sam is a wise chief. He has many counsellors. The 
council at his council-fire must be a great council — it has much 
to say. Its words ought to have some good in them, they are 
so many. Wc thought of our red father, while listening to 
them, and wanted to come here. We have come here. We 
are glad to find our red father still alive and well. The Great 
Spirit loves a just Indian, and takes care of him. A hundred 
winters, in his eyes, are like a single winter. We are thankful 
to him for having led us by the crooked and long path, at the 
end of which we have found the Trackless — the Upright of the 
Onondagoes. I have spoken." 

A gleam of happiness shot into the swarthy lineaments of 
Susqucsus, as he heard, in his own language, a well-merited 
appellation that had not greeted his ears for a period as long as 
the ordinary life of man. It was a title, a cognomen that told 
the story of his connection with his tribe ; and neither years, 
16 



362 THE REDSKIN3. 

nor distance, nor new scenes, nor new ties, nor wars, nor strifes, 
had cansed him to forget the smallest incident connected with 
that tale. I gazed at the old man with awe, as his countenance 
became illuminated by the flood of recollections that was rush- 
ing into it, through the channel of bis memory, and the expres- 
sive glance my uncle threw art me, said how much he was im- 
pressed, also. One of the faculties of Manytongues was to be 
able to interpret, pari passu with the speaker; and, standing 
between us and the carriage, he kept up, sentence by sentence, 
a low accompaniment of each speech, so that none of us lost a 
syllable of what was said. 

As soon as Prairiefire resumed his seat, another silence suc- 
ceeded. It lasted several minutes, during which the only audi- 
ble sounds were various discontented grunts, accompanied by 
suppressed mutterings on the part of old Jaaf, who never could 
tolerate any Indian but his companion. That the negro was 
dissatisfied with this extraordinary visit was sufficiently apparent 
to us, but not one of all the red-men took heed of his deport- 
ment. Sus, who was nearest to him, must have heard his low 
grumbling, but it did not induce him to change his look from 
the countenances of those in his front for a single moment. On 
the other hanjj, the visitors themselves seemed totally uncon- 
scious of the negro's presence, though in fact they were not, as 
subsequently appeared. In a word, the Upright Onondago was 
the centre of attraction for them, all other things being appar- 
ently forgotten for the time. 

At length there was a slight movement among the redskins, 
and another arose. This man was positively the least well-look- 
ing of the whole party. His stature was lower than that of the 
rest of the Indians ; his form was meagre and ungraceful — the 
last, at least, while his mind was in a state* of rest ; and his 
appearance, generally, was wanting in that nobleness of exterior 
which so singularly marked that of every one of his compan- 
ions. As I afterward learned, the name of this Indian was 
Eaglesflight, being so called from the soaring character of the 
clo(juence in which he had been known to indulge. On the 



THE REDSKINS. 363 

present occasion, tliough Lis manner was serious and his coun- 
tenance interested, the spirit within Avas not heaving with any 
of its extraordinary throes. Still, such a man could not rise to 
speak, and avoid creating some slight sensation among his 
expectant auditors. Guarded as are the red-men in general on 
the subject of betraying their emotions, we could detect some- 
thing like a suppressed movement among his friends when 
Eaglcsflight stood erect. The orator commenced in a low but 
solemn manner, his tones changing from the deep, impressive 
guttural, to the gentle and pathetic, in a Avay to constitute elo- 
quence of itself. As I listened, I fancied that never before did 
the human voice seem to possess so much winning power. The 
utterance was slow and impressive, as is usually the case with 
true orators. 

"The Great Spirit makes men differently," commenced 
Eaglcsflight. " Some are like willows, that bend with the breeze 
and are broken in the storm. Some aiie pines, with slender 
trunks, few branches, and a soft wood. Now and then there 
is an oak among them, which gi'ows on the prairie, stretching 
its branches a great way, and making a pleasant shade. This 
wood is hard ; it lasts a long time. Why has the Great Spirit 
made this difference in trees ? — why does the Great Spirit make 
this difference in men ? There is a reason for it. He knows 
it, though we may not. What he does is always right ? 

" I have heard orators at our council-fires complain that 
things should be as they are. They say that the land, and the 
lakes, and the rivers, and the hunting-grounds, belong to the 
red-man only, and that no other color ought ever to be seen 
there. The Great Spirit has thought otherwise, and what he 
thinks happens. Men are of many colors. Some are red, 
which is the color of my father. Some are pale, which is the 
color of my friends. Some are black, which is the color of 
my father's friend. He is black, though old age is changing 
his skin. All this is right ; it comes from the Great Spirit, and 
we must not complain. 

"My father says he i.s very old — that the pine in the woods 



364 THE REDSKINS. 

is scarce older. We know it. That is one re£.son why we have 
come so far to see him, though there is another reason. My 
father knows what that other reason is; so do we. For a hun- 
dred winters and summers, that reason has not gone out of our 
minds. The old men have told it to the young men; and the 
young men, when they have grown older, have told it to their 
sons. In this way it has reached our ears. How many bad 
Indians have lived in that time, have died, and are forgotten ! 
It is the good Indian that lives longest in our memories. We 
wish to forget that the wicked ever were in our tribes. We 
never forget the good. 

"I have seen many changes. I am but a child, compared 
with my father ; but I feel the cold of sixty winters in my bones. 
During all that time, the red-men have been travelling toward 
the setting sun. I sometimes think I shall live to reach it ! It 
must be a great way oiF, but the man who never stops goes far. 
Let us go there, pale-faces will follow. Why all this is, I do 
not know. My father is wiser than his son, and he may be 
able to tell us. I sit down to hear his answer." 

Although Eaglesflight had spoken so quietly, and concluded 
in a manner so different from what I had expected, there was a 
deep interest in what was now going on. The particular reason 
why these red-men had come so far out of their way to visit 
Susquesus had not yet been revealed, as we all hoped would be 
the case ; but the profound reverence that these strangers, from 
the wilds of the far west, manifested for our aged friend, gave 
every assurance that when we did learn it, there would be no 
reason for disappointment. As usual, a pause succeeded the 
brief address of the last speaker ; after which, Susquesus once 
more arose, and spoke. 

" My children," he said, " I am very old. Fifty autumns 
ago, when the leaves fell, I thought it was time for me to pass 
on to the happy hunting-grounds of my people, and be a red- 
skin again. But my name was not called. I have been left 
alone here, in the midst of the pale-face fields, and houses, and 
villages, without a single being of my own color and race to 



THE REDSKINS. 305 

Bpeak to. My head was almost grown white. Still, as years 
came on my head, the spirit turned more toward my youth. I 
began to forget the battles, and hunts, and journeys of middle 
life, and to think of the things seen when a young chief among 
the Onondagoes. My day is now a dream, in which I dream of 
the past. Why is the eye of Susquesus so far-seeing, after a 
hundred winters and more ? Can any one tell ? I think not. 
We do not understand the Great Spirit, and we do not under- 
stand his doings. Here I am, where I have been for half my 
days. That big wigwam is the wigwam of ray best friends. 
Though their faces are pale, and mine is red, our hearts have 
the same color. I never forget them — no, not one of them. I 
see them all, from the oldest to the youngest. They seem to 
be of my blood. This comes from friendship, and many kind- 
nesses. These are all the pale-faces I now see. Red-men stand 
before my eyes in all other places. My mind is with them. 

" My children, you are young. Seventy winters are a great 
many for one of you. It is not so with me. Why I have been 
left standing alone here near the hunting-grounds of our fathers, 
is more than I can say. So it is, and it is right. A withered 
hemlock is sometimes seen, standing by itself, in the fields of 
the pale-faces. I am such a tree. It is not cut down, because 
the wood is of no use, and even the squaws do not like it to 
cook by. When the winds blow, they seem to blow around it. 
It is tired of standing there alone, but it cannot fall. That tree 
wishes for the axe, but no man puts the axe to its root. Its 
time has not come. So it is with me — my time has not come. 

"Children, my days now are dreams of my tribe. I sec the 
wigwam of my father. It was the best in the village. He 
was a chief, and venison was never scarce in his lodge. I see 
him come off the war-path with many scalps on his pole. lie 
had plenty of wampum, and wore many medals. The scalps 
on his pole were sometimes from red-men, sometimes from 
pale-faces. He took them all himself. I see my mother, too. 
She loved me as the she-bear loves her cubs. I had brothcra 
and sisters, and I see them, too. They laugh and play, and 



366 THE REDSKINS. 

seem liappy. There is tlie spring where Ave clipped up water 
in our gourds, and here is the hill where we lay waiting for the 
warriors to eome in from the war-paths and the hunt. Every 
thing looks pleasant to me. That was a village of the Ononda- 
goes, my own people, and I loved them a hundred and twenty 
winters ago. I love them now, as if the time were but one 
winter and one summer. The mind does not feel time. For 
fifty seasons I thought but little of my OAvn people. !My 
thoughts were on the hunt and the war-path, and on the quar- 
rels of the pale-faces, with Avhom I lived. Now, I say agaio^ I 
think most of the past, and of my young days. It is a great 
mystery why we can see things that are so far off so plainly, 
and cannot see things that are so near by. Still, it is so. 

" Children, you ask why the red-men keep moving toward 
the setting sun, and why the pale-faces follow ? You ask if the 
place where the sun sets will be ever reached, and if pale-men 
will go there to plough and to build, and to cut down the 
trees. He that has seen what has happened, ought to know 
what will happen again. I am very old, but I see nothing 
new. One day is like another. The same fruits come each 
summer, and the winters are alike. The bird builds in the 
same tree many times. 

'-'■ M}'- children, I have lived long among the pale-faces. Still, 
my heart is of the same color as my face. I have never for- 
gotten that I am a red-man ; never forgotten the Onondagoes. 
Wlien I was young, beautiful woods covered these fields. Far 
and near the buck and the moose leaped among the trees. 
Nothing but the hunter stopped them. It is all changed ! The 
plough has frightened away the deer. The moose Avill not stay 
near the sound of the church-bell. He does not know what it 
means. The deer goes first. The red-man keeps on his trail, 
and the pale-face is never far behind. So it has been since the 
big canoes of the stranger first came into our waters ; so it will 
be until another salt lake is reached beneath the setting sun. 
When that other lake is seen, the red-man must stop, and die 
in the open fields, where rum, and tobacco, and bread aro 



TOE K E D S K I N S, 367 

[?)l<!nty, or marcii on into the gi-eat salt lake of the west and be 
drowned. Why this is so I cannot telL That it has been so, 
I know ; that it will be so, I believe. There is a reason for 
it ; none can tell what that reason is but the Great Spirit." 

Susquesus had spoken calmly and clearly, and Manytongues 
translated as he proceeded, sentence by sentence. So profound 
was the attention of the savage listeners that I heard their sup- 
pressed breathings. AVe Avhite mea are so occupied with our- 
selves, and our own passing concerns, look on all other races of 
human beings as so much our inferiors, that it is seldom we 
have time or inclination to reflect on the consequences of our 
own acts. Like the wheel that rolls along the highway, how- 
ever, man}^ is the inferior creature that we heedlessly crush in 
our path. Thus has it been with the red-man, and, as the 
Trackless had said, thus will it continue to be. He will be 
driven to the salt lake of the far west, "where he must plunge in 
and be drowned, or turn and die in the midst of abundance. 

My uncle Ko knew more of the Indians, and of their habits, 
than any one else of our party, unless it might be my grand- 
motlwr. She, indeed, had seen a good deal of them in early 
life; and when quite a young girl, dwelling with tliat uncle of 
her own who went by the sobriquet of the " Chainbearer," she 
had even dwelt in the woods, near the tribe of Susquesus, and 
had often heard him named there as an Indian in high repute, 
although he was even at that distant day an exile from his peo- 
ple. When our old friend resumed his seat, she beckoned her 
son and myself to the side of the carriage, and spoke to us on 
the subject of wliat had just been uttered, the translation of 
Manytongues having been loud enough to let the whole party 
hear what he said. 

" This is not a visit of business, but one of ceremony only," 
slie said. •" To-morrow, probably, the real object of the stran- 
gers will be made known. All that lias passed, as j'ct, has been 
complimentaiy, mixed with a little desire to hear the wisdom 
of the sage. The red-man is never in a hurry impatience being 
'A, felling iJi.it he Is apt to impute to us wonjcn. "Well, though 



368 THE REDSKINS. 

we are females, we can wait. In the mean time, some of us 
can weep, as you see is particularly the case with Miss Mary 
Warren." 

This was true enougli ; the fine eyes of all four of the girls 
glistening with tears, while the cheeks of the person named 
were quite wet with those that had streamed down them. At 
this allusion to such an excess of sympathy, the young lady 
dried her eyes, and the color heightened so much in her face, 
that I thought it best to avert my looks. While this by-play 
was going on, Prairiefire arose again, and concluded the pro- 
ceedings of that preliminary visit, by making another short 
speech : 

"Father," he said, "we thank you. What we have heard 
will not be forgotten. All red-men are afraid of that great 
salt lake, under the setting sun, and in which some say it dips 
every night. What you have told ns, will make us think more 
of it. We have come a great distance, and are tired. We 
will now go to our wigwam, and eat, and sleep. To-morrow, 
when the sun is up here," pointing to a part of the heavens 
that would indicate something like nine o'clock, " we will come 
again, and open our ears. The Great Spu-it who has spared 
you so long, will spare you until then, and we shall not forget 
to come. It is too pleasant to us to be near you, for us to for- 
get. Farewell." 

The Indians now rose in a body, and stood regarding Sus- 
quesus fully a minute, in profound silence, when they filed off 
at a quick pace, and followed their leader toward their quarters 
for the night. As the train noiselessly wound its way from be- 
fore him, a shade passed athwart the dark countenance of the 
Trackless, and he smiled no more that day. 

All this time the negro, the contemporary of the Indian, kept 
inuttering bis discontent at seeing so many redskins in his pres-- 
cnce, unheeded and indeed unheard by his friend. 

" What you do wid dem Injin," he growled, as the party 
disappeared. " No good ebber come of sich as dem. How 
many time dcy work dcbbletry in a wood, and you and I not 



THE REDSKINS, 



3G9 



wcrry far olF, Sus. How ole you got, redskin ; and forgetful ! 
Nobody can hold out wid color' man. Gosh ! I do b'lievc I 
lib for ebber, sometime ! It won'erful to think of, how long I 
stay on dis werry 'avth !" 

Such exclamations were not uncommon Avith the aged Jaaf, 
and no one noted them. He did not seem to expect any answer 
liimself, nor did any one appear to deem it at all necessary to 
make one. As for the Trackless, he arose with a saddened 
countenance, and moved into his hut like one who wished to 
be left alone with his thoughts. My grandmother oMered the 
carriage to move on, and the rest of us returned to the house 
on foot. 




]6* 



3^0 THE KEDSKIN8. 



CHAPTER XXL 



" With all thj rural ochocs come, 
Sweet comrade of the rosy day, 
"Wafting; the wild beo's gentle hum, 
Or cuckoo's plaintive roundelay." 

CA-MrnKLU 



That iiiglit was passed under my own roof, in the family 
circle. Although my presence on the estate was now generally 
known, to all Avho were interested in it, I cannot say that I 
thought much of the anti-renters, or of any risks incun-ed by 
the discovery. The craven spirit manifested by the "Injins" in 
presence of the Indians, the assumed before the real, had not a 
tendency to awaken much respect for the disaffected, and quite 
likely disposed me to be move indifferent to their proceedings, 
than I might otherwise have been. At all events, I was happy 
with Patt and Mary, and my uncle's wards, and did not give 
the disorganizers a thought, until quite at the close of the even- 
ing. The manner in which John went about to barricade the 
doors and windows, after the ladies had retired, struck me un- 
pleasantly, however, and it did not fail to produce the same 
effect on my uncle. This seemingly important duty was done, 
when my faithful viaiire-d' hotel, for such, in a measure, was the 
Englishman's station, came to me and my uncle, who were 
waiting for his appearance in the library, armed like Robinson 
Crusoe. He brought us each a revolving pistol, and a rifle, 
with a proper allowance of ammunition. 

"Missus," so John persevered in calling my grandmother, 
though it was very unlike an English servant to do so, after he 
had been iu the country thi-ee months — " Missus as bordered 



THE UK D SKIN'S, 3Vl 

harms to be laid in, in <^j;uantilies, Mr. Hugli, and hall of us has 
our rifles and pistols, just like these. She keeps some for her- 
self and Miss Martha, in her own room still, but as she supposes 
you can make better use of these than the maids, I had her 
orders to bring them down out of the maids' room, and holFer 
them to yourselves, gentlemen. They are hall loaded, and 
smart weapons be they. 

"Surely there has been no occasion as yet, for using such 
things as these !" exclaimed my uncle. 

" One doesn't know, Mr. Roger, when the hinimy may come. 
We have had only three alarms since the ladies arrived, and 
most luckily no blood Avas shed ; though we fired at the hini- 
my, and the hinimy fired at us. When I says no blood was 
spilt, I should add, on our side ; for there was no way to know 
how much the anti's suftered, and they hadn't good stone walls 
to cover them, as we 'ad on our side," 

" Gracious Providence ! I had no notion of this ! Hugh, the 
country is in a worse state than I had supposed, and we ought 
not to leave the ladies here an hour after to-morrow!" 

As the ladies who came within my uncle's category, did not 
include Mary Warren, I did not take exactly the same view of 
the subject as he did himself. Nothing further was said on the 
subject, however ; and shortly after each shouldered his rifle, 
and retired to his own room. 

It was past midnight when I reached my apartment, but I 
felt no inclination for sleep. That had been an important day 
to me, one full of excitement, and I was still too much under 
the influence of its circumstances to think of ray bed. There 
was soon a profound silence in the house, the closing of doors 
and the sound of footsteps having ceased, and I went to a win- 
dow^, to gaze on the scene without. There was a three-quarters' 
moon, which gave light enough to render all the nearer objects 
of the landscape distinctly visible. The view had nothing 
remarkable in it, but it was always rural and pretty. The little 
river, and the broad meadows, were not to be seen from my 
side of the house, which comnianded the carriage road that 



372 THE REDSKINS. 

wound through the lawn — the farm-house — the distant church 
• — the neat and pretty rectory — the dwelling of Mary, and a 
long reach of farms, that lay along the valley, and on the broad 
breast of the rising ground to the westward. 

Every thing, far and near, seemed buried in the quiet of deep 
night. Even the cattle in the fields had lain down to sleep ; 
for, like man, they love to follow the law of nature, and divide 
the hours by light and darkness. John had placed the candles 
in my dressing-room, and closed the inner shutters ; but I had 
taken a seat by a window of the bed-room, and sat in no other 
light but that which came from the moon, which Avas now near 
setting. I might have been ruminating on the events of the 
day half an hour or more, when I fancied some object was in 
motion on a path that led toward the village, but which was 
quite distinct from the ordinary highway. This path was 
private, indeed, running fully a mile through my own farm and 
gi-ounds, bounded for a considerable distance by high fences on 
each side of it, and running among the copses and thickets of 
the lawn, as soon as it emerged from the fields. It had been 
made in order to enable my grandfather to ride to his fields, 
uninterrupted by gates or bars ; and issuing into the bit of 
forest already described, it passed through that by a short cut, 
and enabled us to reach the hamlet by a road that saved nearly 
a mile in the whole distance. This path was often used by 
those who left the Nest, or who came to it, in the saddle, but 
rarely by any but those who belonged to the family. Though 
old as the place itself, it was little known by others, not suiting 
the general taste for publicity, there not being a solitary dwell- 
ing on it between the Nest House itself and the point where it 
emerged into the highway, beyond the Avood, which Avas quite 
near to the village. 

I could see the whole line of this private path, with the ex- 
ception, here and there, of intervals that were hid by trees and 
thickets, from the point where it terminated until it entered 
the wood. There could be no mistake. Late as was the hour, 
some one mounted was galloping along that path, winding his 



T II K REDSKINS, 



or her way among the rails of tlic fences ; now plainly visible, 
then lost to view. I liad cauglit a glimpse of this phantom 
(for at that unusual hour, and by that delusive light, it re- 
quired no great effort of the imagination thus to fancy the 
equestrian), just as it emerged from the wood, and could not 
well be mistaken as to the accuracy of my discovery. The 
path led through a pretty wooded ravine in the lawn, and no 
sooner did I lose sight of this strange object than I turned my 
eyes eagerly to the spot where it ought to reappear, on emerg- 
ing from its cover. 

The path lay in shadow for twenty rods on quitting the 
ravine, after which it wound across the lawn to the door, for 
about twice that distance, in full moonlight. At the termina- 
tion of the shadow there was a noble oak, which stood alone, 
and beneath its wide branches was a seat much frequented by 
the ladies in the heats of summer. My eye kept moving from 
this point, where the light became strong, to that where the 
path issued from the ravine. At the latter it was just possible 
to distinguish a moving object, and, sure enough, there I got 
ray next view of the person I was watching. The horse came 
up the ascent on a gallop — a pace that was continued until its 
rider drew the rein beneath the oak. Here, to my surprise, a 
female sprang from the saddle with great alacrity, and secured 
her steed within the shadow of the tree. This was no sooner 
done than she moved on toward the house, iu much apparent 
liaste. Fearful of disturbing the family, I now left my room 
on tiptoe, and without a candle, the light of the moon penetrat- 
ing the passages in sufficient quantity to servo my purpose, 
descending as fast as possible to the lower floor. Swift and 
prompt as had been my own movement, it had been anticipated 
by another. To my great sui-prise, on reaching the little side 
door to which the path led, and where the ladies had long been 
accustomed to get into the saddle, Avhen they used it, I found 
a female figure, with her hand on the massive lock, as if ready 
to turn its key at some expected summons. To my great 
astonishment, on drawing ncnror, I recognized, by the fiint 



374 THE REDSKINS. 

light that penetrated through a Uttle window over the door, the 
person of Mary Warren ! 

I certainly started at this unexpected discovery, but, if she 
who caused that start in mc submitted to any similar emo- 
tion, I did not discover it. She may have heard my step, 
however, descending the stairs, and have been prepared for the 
meeting. 

*' You have seen her, too, have you, Mr. Littlepage !" ex- 
claimed Mary, though she used the precaution to speak in a 
suppressed tone. " What can have brought her here at this 
late hour ?" 

"You know who it is, then. Miss Warren?" I answered, 
feeling an indescribable pleasure succeed my surprise, as I re- 
membered the dear girl, who was fully dressed, just as she had 
left the drawing-room an hour before, must have been gazing 
out upon the moonlight view as well as myself; a species of ro- 
mance that proved something like a similarity of tastes, if not a 
secret sympathy between us. 

"Certainly," returned Mary, steadily. "I cannot well be 
mistaken in the person, I think. It is Opportunity New- 
come." 

" My hand was on the key, and I turned it in the lock. A 
bar remained, and this I also removed, when we opened the 
door. Sure enough, there came the person just named, within 
ten feet of the steps, which she doubtless intended to ascend. 
She manifested surprise on ascertaining Avho were her porters, 
but hastened into the house, looking anxiously behind her, as 
if distrustful of pursuit or observation. I led the way to tho 
library, lighted its lamp, and then turned to my two silent com- 
panions, looking a request for explanation. 

Opportunity was a young woman, in her twenty-sixth year, 
and was not without considerable personal charms. The exer- 
cise and excitement through Avhich she had just gone had 
heightened the color in her cheeks, and rendered her appear- 
ance unusually pleasing. Nevertheless, Opportunity was not a 
woman to awaken any thing like the passion of love in me, 



THE REDSKINS. '615 

tliough I had long been aware such was her purpose. I sus- 
pected that her present business was connected with this scheme, 
I will own, and was prepared to listen to her communication 
with distrast. As for Opportunity herself, she hesitated about 
making her disclosures, and the very first words she uttered were 
any thing but delicate or feminine. 

"Well, I declare !" exclaimed Opportunity, " I did not ex- 
pect to find you two alone at this time of night !" 

I could have given her tongue a twitch to cure it of its pro- 
pensity to speak evil, but concern for Mary Warren induced 
me to turn anxiously toward her. Never did the steady self- 
possession of perfect innocence better assert itself than in the 
dear girl at this rude assault ; the innocence which can leave no 
latent intention, or wish, to alarm the feelings. 

" We had all retired," answered the pure-minded girl, " and 
every body on ray side of the house is in bed and asleep, I be- 
lieve ; but I did not feci any drowsiness, and was sitting at a 
window, looking out upon the view by this lovely moonlight, 
when I saw you ride out of the woods, and follow the lane. As 
you came up to the oak I knew who it was. Opportunity, and 
ran down to admit you ; for I was certain something extraor- 
dinary must bring you here at this late hour." 

" Oh ! nothing extraordinary, at all !" cried Miss Opportu- 
nity, in a careless way. " I love moonlight as Avell as yourself, 
Mar)', and am a desperate horsewoman, as you know. I 
thought it would be romantic to gallop over to the Nest, and go 
back between one and two in the morning. Nothing more, I 
can assure you." 

The coolness with which this was said amazed me not a little, 
though I was not so silly as to believe a syllable of it. Oppor- 
tunity had a great deal of vulgar scntimentalism about her, it 
is true — such as some girls are apt to mistake for refinement ; 
but she was not quite so bad as to travel that lane, at midnight, 
and alone, without some special object. It occurred to me 
that this objoct might be connected with her brother, and that 
hIic would iialiirally wish to make hor coiniiiimicalions private- 



3V6 THE REDSKINS. 

ly. Wc Lad all taken scats at a tabic which occupied the centre 
of the room, Mary and myself quite near each other, and Op- 
portunity at a distant angle. I wrote on a slip of paper a short 
request for Mary to leave me alone with our visitor, and laid it 
under her eyes, without exciting Opportunity's suspicion ; talk- 
ing to her, the whole time, about the night, and the weather, 
and her ride. While we were thus engaged, Miss Warren rose, 
and quietly glided out of the room. So silently was this done, 
that I do not believe my remaining companion was conscious 
of it at the moment. 

"You have driven Mary Warren away. Miss Opportunity," 
I remarked, "by the hint about our being alone together." 

" Lord ! there's no great harm in that ! I am used to being 
alone with gentlemen, and think nothing of it. But, are we 
really alone, Mr. Hugh, and quite by ourselves ?" 

" Quite, as you see. Our two selves and Mary Warren I be- 
lieve to be the only persons in the house, out of our beds. She 
has left us, a little hurt, perhaps, and we are quite alone." 

" Oh ! As for Mary Warren's feelings, I don't mind them 
much, Mr. Hugh. She's a good critter" — yes, this elegant 
young lady actually used that extraordinary word — " and as 
forgiving as religion. Besides, she's only the Episcopal clergy- 
man's daughter ; and, take your family away, that's a denomi- 
nation that would not stand long at Ravensnest, I can tell you." 

" I am very glad, then, my family is not away, for it is a 
denomination I both honor and love. So long as the grasping 
and innovating spirit of the times leaves the Littlepages any 
thing, a fair portion of their means shall be given to support 
that congregation. As for Miss Warren, I am pleased to hear' 
that her temperament is so forgiving." 

" I know that well, and did not speak in the hope of making 
any change in your views, Mr. Hugh, Mary Warren, however, 
will not think much of my remark to-morrow ; I do not believe 
she thought half as much about it to-night as I should have 
lone, had it been made to me." 

I fancy this Avas quite true ; Mary Warren having listened to 



THE REDSKINS. 3'jl 

tlio insinuation as the guileless and innocent licar innuendos 
that bring no consciousness Avith them, while Opportunity'.", 
spirit would have been very apt to buckle on the armor Avhich 
practice had rendered well-fitting. 

"You have not taken this long ride merely to admire the 
moon, Miss Opportunity," I now carelessly remarked, willing 
to bring things to a head. "If you would favor me with its 
real object, I should be pleased to learn it." 

" What if Marv should be standing at the keyhole, listening?" 
said this elegant * critter,' with the suspicion of a vulgar mind. 
"I wouldn't have her hear what I've got to tell you, for a mint 
of money." 

" I do not think there is much danger of that," I answered, 
rising notwithstanding, and throwing open the door. "You 
perceive there is no one here, and we can converse in safety." 

Opportunity was not so easily satisfied. Of a gossiping, 
craving disposition herself, in all things that pertain to curiosity, 
it was not easy for her to imagine another could be less guided 
by that feeling than herself. Rising, therefore, she went on tiptoe 
to the passage, and examined it for herself. Satisfied, at length, 
that we were not watched, she returned to the room, closed the 
door softly, motioned for me to be seated, placed herself quite 
near me, and then appeared disposed to proceed to business, 

" This has been a dreadful day, Mr. Hugh," the young 
woman now commenced, actually looking sorrowful, as I make 
little doubt she really felt. " Who could have thought that 
the street-musician was you, and that old German peddler of 
watches, Mr. Roger ! I declare, the world seems to be getting 
upside-down, and folks don't know when they're in their right 
places ?" 

" It was a foolish adventure, perhaps ; but it has let us into 
some most important secrets." 

" That's just the difficulty. I defend you all I can, and tell 
my brothers that you've not done any thing they wouldn't do 
in a minute, if only half a farm depended on it, while, in your 
case, it may be more than a hundred." 



378 THE RED SKINS. 

" Your brothers tlien complain of my having appeared 
among the anti-renters in disguise ?" 

"They do, desperately, Mr. Hugh, and seem quite put out 
about it. They say it was ungenerous to come in that way 
into your own country, and steal their secrets from them ! I 
say all I can in your favor, but words wont pass for much with 
men in such a taking. You know, Mr. Hugh, I've always been 
your friend, even from our childish days, having got myself 
into more than one scrape to get you out of them." 

As Opportunity made this declaration, one a little loose as 
to facts, by the way,' she sighed gently, dropped her eyes, and 
looked as conscious and confused as I believe it was at all in 
her nature to appear. It was not my cue to betray undue 
bashfulness at such a moment, and as for any scruples on the 
subject of misleading a confiding heart, I should as soon have 
thought of feeding an anaconda or a boa constrictor with angle- 
worms. I took the young lady's hand, therefore, squeezed it 
with as sentimental a pressure as I knew how to use, and looked 
green enough about the eyes, I dare say. 

"You are only too good, Opportunity," I answered "Yes, I 
have ever relied on you as a friend, and have never doubted you 
Avould defend me, when I was not present to defend myself." 

Here I released the hand, a little apprehensive I might have 
the young lady sobbing on my shoulder, unless some little 
moderation were observed. Opportunity manifested a reluc- 
tance to let go her hold, but what could a young woman do, 
Avhcn the gentleman himself exhibited so much discretion ? 

"Yes, Seneky, in particular, is in a dreadful taking," she 
resumed, " and to pacify him, I consented to ride over myself, 
at this time of night, to let you know what is threatened." 

" That is most kind of you. Opportunity ; and, as it is so 
late, had you not better tell your story at once, and then go to 
a room and rest yourself, after so sharp a ride ?" 

" Tell my tale I will, for it's high time you heard it ; but, as 
for rest, I must jump on my horse and gallop back the moment 
the moon sets ; sleep I must in my own bed this night. Of 



THE REDSKINS. 379 

course you and Mary Warren will botli be silent as to my visit, 
since it has been made for your good." 

I promised for myself and Mary, and then pressed my com- 
panion to delay no longer in imparting the information she had 
ridden so far to bring. The story was soon told and proved 
to be sufficiently alarming. One portion of the facts I got 
directly from Opportunity herself, while another has been sub- 
sequently gleaned from various sources, all being certain. The 
particular circumstances were these : — 

When Seneca followed the band of " Injins" and his co-anti- 
renters, in their precipitate retreat on the hamlet, his revela 
tions produced a general consternation. It then became known 
that the young Paris spendthrift was on his own estate, that he 
had actually been among the disaffected that day, had learned 
many of their secrets, and had probably made black marks 
against certain of the tenants, whose leases were nearly expired. 
Bad as this was, of itself, it was not the worst of the matter. 
Nothing was more certain than the fact that this young land- 
lord knew a few of those who had committed felony, and might 
have sundry highly probable suspicions as to others. The 
guilty lay at his mercy, as a matter of course ; and there was a 
sufficiency of common sense left among these conspirators, to 
understand that a man, who must feci that attempts were mak- 
ing to rob him of his estate, would be very likely to turn the 
tables on his assailants, did an occasion offer. When men 
embark in an undertaking as innately nefarious as that of anti- 
rcntism certainly is, when it is stripped of its pretensions and 
stiuuls in its naked deformity, they are not apt to stop at trifles. 
To this desperate character of its mischief, the country owes 
the general depression of truth that has accompanied its career, 
its fivlsc and dangerous principles, its confusion between right 
and wrong, and finally its nuirdcrs. It has been the miserable 
prerogative of demagogues alone, to defend its career and its 
demoralization. Thus has it happened, that the country has 
BCcn the same quasi legislators — legislators, by the vote of a 
party and the courtesy of the country, if by no other tenure — • 



380 THE REDSKINS. 

supporting, with an air of higli pretension, tlie very doubtful 
policy of attempting to make men moral by statute law, on the 
one side, while they go the full length of these property-depre- 
dators, on the other ! In such a state of society, it is not sur- 
prising that any expedient should be adopted to intimidate and 
bully me into silence. It was consequently determined, in a 
conclave of the chiefs, that a complaint should be made against 
my uncle and myself, before an anti-rent justice of the peace, 
for felony under the recent statute, in appearing " disguised and 
armed," as a means of preventing our complaints against the 
real offenders. It is true, we were not in masks, but our dis- 
guises, nevertheless, were so effectual as possibly to meet the 
contingency contemplated by the law, had we been armed. As 
to weapons, however, we had leen totally and intentionally 
without any thing of the sort \ out oaths cost villains, like those 
engaged in this plot, very uttle. Those oaths had been taken, 
and warrants were actually signed by the magistrate, of which 
the service was suspended at Seneca's solicitation, merely to 
enable the last to effect a compromise. It was not thought 
sufficient, however, to menace my uncle and myself with a pros- 
ecution of this nature ; intimidation of another sort was to bo 
put in requisition, to enforce the dread of the legal proceedings ; 
a measure which should let us see that our assailants were in 
downright earnest. Opportunity had ascertained that some- 
thing serious was to be attempted, and she believed that very 
night, though what it was precisely was more than she knew ; 
or knowing, was willing to communicate. 

The object of this late visit, then, was to make terms for her 
brother, or brothers ; to apprise me of some unknown but press- 
ing danger, and to obtain all that influence in my breast that 
might fairly be anticipated from services so material. Beyond 
a question, I was fortunate in having such a friend in the ene- 
my's camp, though past experience had taught me to be wary 
how I trusted my miserable and sensitive heart within tho 
meshes of a net that had been so often cast. 

** I am very sensible of the importance of your services, Misa 



THE REDSKINS. 381 

Opportunity," I said, wlien the voluble young lady had told her 
tale, " and shall not fail to bear it in mind. As for making 
any direct arrangement with your brother Seneca, that is out 
of the question, since it would be compromising felony, and 
subject me to punishment; but I can be passive, if I see fit, and 
your wishes will have great weight with me. The attempt to 
arrest my uncle and myself, should it ever be made, will only 
subject its instigators to action for malicious prosecutions, and 
gives me no concern. It is very doubtful how far wc were dis- 
guised, in the sense of the statute, and it is certain we were not 
armed, in any sense. "Without perjury therefore, such a prose- 
cution must fail " 

" Folks take desperate oaths in anti-rent times !" interrupted 
Opportunity, with a significant look. 

"I am quite aware of that. Human testimony, at the best, 
is very frail, and often to be distrusted; but in seasons of excite- 
ment, and passion, and cupidity, it is common to find it cor- 
rupt. The most material thing, at present, is to know precisely 
the nature of the evil they meditate against us." 

Opportunity's eye did not turn away, as mine was fastened 
on her while she answered this question, but retained all the 
steadiness of sincerity. 

"I wish I could tell you, Mr. Hugh," she said; "but I can 
say no more than I have. Some injury will be attempted this 
night, I feel certain ; but what that injury will be, is more than 
I know myself. I must now go home ; for the moon will be 
nearly down, and it would never do for me to be seen by any 
of the antis. The little I have said in favor of the Littlcpagee 
has made me enemies, as it is ; but I never should be forgiven, 
was this ride to be known." 

Opportunity now rose, and smiling on me, as any other rover 
might be supposed to fire a parting broadside, in order to ren- 
der the recollection of her presence as memorable as possible, 
she hurried away. I accompanied her to the oak, as a matter 
of course, and assisted her into her saddle. Sundry little pas- 
sages of country coquetry occurred during these movements, 



382 THE REDSKINS. 

and the young lady manifested a reluctance to depart, even 
when all was ready, though she was in so great a hurry. Her 
game was certainly as desperate as that of the anti-rentera 
themselves, but it was a game she was determined to play out. 
The moon was not yet quite down, and that circumstance served 
as a pretence for delay, while I fancied that she might still have 
something in reserve to communicate. 

"This has been so kind in you, dear Opportunity," I said, 
laying my hand gently on the one of hers which held the bridle 
— " so like old times — so like yourself, indeed — that I scarce 
know how to thank you. But we shall live to have old-fash- 
ioned times again, when the former communications can be 
opened among us. Those were happy days, when we all went 
galloping over the hills together ; mere boys and girls, it is true, 
but delighted boys and girls I hope you will allow." 

" That they was" — Opportunity's education and graces did 
not extend to good grammar, in her ordinary discourse, which 
many persons among us seem to fency is anti-republican — 
"That they was! And I should like to live 'em over again. 
Never mind, Hugh ; you'll live to put down these people, and 
then you'll settle and marry. You mean to marry, of course ?" 

This was a pretty plain demonstration ; but I was used to it, 
as what young man of fortune is not ? — and a danger known is a 
danger avoided. I pressed the hand I held gently, relinquished 
it, and then observed, in a somewhat disappointed tone — 

" Well, I ought not to ask again, what is the particular injury 
I am to expect to-night. A brother is nearer than a friend, I 
know ; and I can appreciate your difficulties." 

Opportunity had actually given the spirited beast she rode 
the rein, and was on the point of galloping off, when these last 
words touched her heart. Leaning forward, and bending her 
head down, so as to bring our faces within a foot of each other, 
she said, in a low voice — 

"i^/re is a good servant, but a hard master. A teakettle of 
water thrown on it, at first, would have put out the last great 
couflaGrration in York." 



THE REDSKINS. 383 

These words were no sooner uttered than the bold young 
woman struck lier horse a smart blow, and away she went gal- 
loping over the turf with an almost noiseless hoof. I watched 
her for a moment, and saw her descend into the ravine ; when, 
left quite alone, there was abundant opportunity for reflection, 
though no longer any Opportunity to look at. 

*'Fire!" — That loas an ominous word. It is the instrument 
of the low villain, and is an injury against which it is difBcult, 
indeed, to guard. It had been used in these anti-rent troubles, 
though less, perhaps, than Avould have been the case in almost 
any other country ; the institutions of this, even if they have 
introduced so many false and exaggerated notions of liberty, 
having had a most beneficial effect in lessening some of the 
other evils of humanity. Still, fire had been resorted to, and 
the term of "barn-burner" had got to be common among us; 
far more common, I rejoice to say, than the practice which 
gave it birth. Nevertheless, it was clearly of the last import- 
ance to certain persons at Ravensnest to frighten me from com- 
plaining, since their crimes could only lead them to the state's 
prison, were justice oua. I determined, therefore, not to lay 
my head on a pillow that night, until assured that the danger 
was past. 

The moon had now set, but the stars shed their twinkling 
rays on the dusky landscape. I was not sorry for the change, 
as it enabled me to move about with less risk of being seen. 
The first thing was to seek some auxiliaries to aid me in watch- 
ing, and I at once decided to look for them among my guests, 
the Indians. If "fire will fight fire," "Indian" ought to be a 
match for " Injin" any day. There is just the difference be- 
tween these two classes of men, that their names would imply. 
The one is natural, dignified, polished in his way — nay, gontle- 
man-likc; while the other is a sneaking scoundrel, and as vulgar 
as his own appellation. No one would think of calling these last 
masquerading rogues "Indians;" by common consent, even the 
most particular purist in language terms them " Iiijins." " II y 
a chapcau ct chapcaii,^^ and there are " Indian" and "Injin." 



384 THE KKDSKINS. 

Witliout returning to the liouse, I took my way at once to- 
ward the quarters of my red guests. Faraihar with every 
object around nie, I kept so much within the shadows, and 
moved across the lawn and fields by a route so hidden, that 
there was not much risk of my being seen, even had there been 
enemies on the look-out. The distance was not great, and I 
soon stood at the foot of the little knoll on which the old farm- 
house stood, sheltered in a manner by a dark row of aged cur- 
rants, which lined the bottom of an old and half-deserted garden. 
Here I paused to look about me, and to reflect a moment, before 
I proceeded any further. 

There stood the good old substantial residence of my fath- 
ers, in shadowy outline, looming large and massive in its form 
and aspect. It might be fired, certainly, but not with much 
facility, on its exterior. With the exception of its roof, its 
piazza, and its outside doors, little wood was exposed to an in- 
cendiary without; and a slight degree of watchfulness might 
suffice against such a danger. Then the law punished arson of 
an inhabited dwelling with death, as it should do, and your 
sneaking scoundrels seldom brave such a penalty in this coun- 
try. Much is said about the impotency of the punishment of 
the gallows, but no man can tell how many thousand times it 
has stayed the hand and caused the heart to quail. Until 
some one can appear among us, who is able to reveal this im- 
portant secret, it is idle to talk about the few cases in which it 
is known that the risk of death has been insufiicient to prevent 
crime. One thing we all know ; other punishments exist, and 
crime is perpetrated directly in their face, daily and hourly ; 
and I cannot see why such a circumstance should not be just as 
much of an argument against the punishment of the peniten- 
tiary, as against punishment by the gallows. For one, I am 
clearly for keeping in existence the knowledge that there is a 
power in the country, potent to sweep away the offender, 
when cases of sufficient gravity occur to render the warning 
wholesome. 



TUB REDSKINS. 385 



CHAPTER XXII. 

"O, time and denth ! with certain pace, 
Tliough still unequal, hurrying on, 
O'ertumlng, iu your awful race, 
The cot, the palace, and the throne 1 

" Not always in the storm of war, 
Nor by the pestilence that sweeps 
From the plague-smitten realms afar, 
Beyond the old and solemn deeps." 

Sands. 

Besides the house with its walls of stone, however, there 
were numerous out-buildings. The carriage-house, stables, and 
liome-barn, were all of stone also ; but a brand thrown into a 
hay-mow would easily produce a conflagration. The barns, 
hay -ricks, &c., on the flats, and near the dwelling of Miller, 
were all of wood, according to the custom of the country, and 
it was not death to set fire to a barn. The " disguised and 
armed" who should commit this last offence would incur no 
other risk than that which had already been incurred in carrying 
out his desperate plans. I thought of these things for a mo- 
ment, Avhen I opened a passage through the currant-bushes, in- 
tending to pass by a breach in the decayed fcjice into the garden, 
and thus by a private way to the house. To my astonishment, 
and in a slight degree to ray alarm, a man stood before me the 
instant I emerged from the thicket. 

" Who be — where go — what want?" demanded one of the 
real redskins, significantly ; this being a sentinel of the party, 
whose vigilance even my guarded approach had not eluded. 

I told him who I was, and that I came to seek the interpre- 
ter, Alanytongucs. No sooner was I recognized, than my red 
17 



oSii THE R E D S K I X 3 . 

friend offered me his hand to shake, American fashion, ard 
seemed satisfied. He asked no question, manifested no curios- 
ity at this visit at an hour so unusual, and took it all as one in 
ordinary life would receive a call in a morning between the per- 
mitted hours of twelve and three. Something had brought me 
there, he must have known ; but, what that something was ap- 
peared to give him no concern. This man accompanied me to 
the house, and pointed to the spot where I should find the per- 
son I sought, snoring on his well-shaken bundles of straw. 

At the first touch of my finger, Manytongues awoke, and 
stood erect. He recognized me in an instant, dark as was the 
room, and touching my arm as a signal to follow, led the way 
into the open air. After moving out of ear-shot, he stopped 
and proceeded to business himself, like one accustomed to such 
interruptions. 

" Any thing stimng to-night?" demanded this frontier-man, 
with the coolness of one who was ever ready. "Am I to call 
ray redskins ; or is it only a notice that is to be given ?" 

" Of that you shall judge for yourself. You doubtless know 
the condition of this part of the country, and the troubles that 
exist on the subject of the rents paid for the use of the farms. 
What you saw to-day is a specimen of the scenes that are now 
constantly acted among us." 

" Colonel, I can't say I do rightly understand the state of 
things down here-a-Avay," drawled out the interpreter, after 
yawning like a hound, and giving me the most favorite title of 
the frontiers. "It seems to be neither one thing nor t'other ; 
nuther tomahawk nor law. I can understand both of them, but 
this half-and-half sort of thing bothers me, and puts me out. 
You ought to have law, or you hadn't ought ; but what you 
have should be stuck to." 

"You mean that you do not find this part of the country 
either civilized or savage. Not submitting to the laws, nor yet 
permitting the natural appeal to force ?" 

" Something of that sort. The agent told me, when I came 
on with this party of redskins, that I was comin' down into a 



THE REDSKINS. 387 

quarter of the country wlicre there was justices of the peace, 
and that no man, red or pale, could or should right himself. 
So we've all on us indivor'd to go by that rule ; and I can qual- 
ify that not a critter has been shot or scalped since we crossed 
the Mississippi. Some sich law was necessary among us, as we 
came from different and hostile tribes, and nothing would be 
easier than to breed a quarrel among ourselves, if a body was so 
disposed. But, I must say, that I'm not only disapp'inted my- 
self, but most of my cliicfs be dreadfully disapo'lnted like- 
wise." 

"In what particular have you been most disappointed?" 

" In many matters. The first thing that set me a-thiukin' 
was to hear folks read them newspapers. The way men talk of 
each other, in them things, is wonderful, and to me it's a sur- 
prise any's left, at the end of the year, to begin the same game 
the next. Why, Colonel Littlepage — " 

" I am no colonel — not even an ensign — you must be con- 
founding me with some other of my family," 

" You ought to be, sir, and I shall not do you the injustice 
to call you by any lower title. I've known gentlemen of not 
one-quarter your pretensions tarmed gin'rals, out west. I've 
hunted on the prer-ics these twenty-five years, and have now 
crossed the upper lakes six times, and know what is due to a 
gentleman as well as any man. And so, as I was sayin'. Colo- 
nel Littlepage, was men to talk of each other out on the prer- 
ics as they /(raii of each other down here among the mectin'- 
'uses, scalps would be so plenty as to fall considerable in valie. 
I'm not at all spiteful, but my feelin's has been r'iled at only 
just hcarin' 'em things read, for, as for reading myself, that's a 
thing I never condescended to. This somewhat prepared me 
for findin' things different as I got deeper into the settlement, 
and I've not been disapp'inted so far as them expectations went 
— it's the old idee that's been crossed." 

" I am not astonished to hear this, and agree with you en 
tirely in thinking that the nations which can withstand a press of 
which the fjcneral character is as dcjjradcd as that of this conn- 



388 THE REDSKINS. 

try, must be composed of beings of a liigber order than man. 
But, to come to business ; you must have some notions of these 
mock savages, and of the people called anti-renters?" 

" Sort o', and sort o' not. I can't understand when a man has 
agreed to pay rent, why he should not pay it. A bargain is a 
bargain, and the word of a gentleman is as good as his bond." 

"These opinions would surprise some among us, a few legis- 
lators included. They appear to think that the moral test of 
every engagement is whether the parties like it or not." 

" One word, if you please, colonel. Do they give in as 
much to complaints of the owners of the sile as to the com- 
plaints of them that hire the land in order to work it?" 

"Not at all. The complaints of the landlords would not 
find a single sympathetic chord in the breast of the softest- 
hearted politician in America, let them be ever so well-founded. 
Surely, you, who are a rover on the prairies, can have no great 
respect for land titles?" 

"The prer-ie is the prer-ie, colonel, and men live and act 
by prer-ie law on prer-ie ground. But right is right, too, 
colonel, as well as prer-ie is prer-ie ; and I like to see it pervail. 
I do not think you will find a redskin among all the chiefs who 
are asleep under that roof who will not give his voice again 
flying from the tarms of a solemn bargain. A man must be 
well steeped in the ways of the law, I should judge, to bring 
his mind to such an act." 

"Do these red-men, then, know any thing of the nature of 
the difficulties that exist here ?" 

"They have heard on 'em, and have talked a good deal 
together on the subject. It's opposite to the very natur' of an 
Indian, like, to agree to one thing, and to do another. But, 
here is a Chippewa, who is on the look-out. I will ask him a 
question, and you shall hear his answer. 

Manytongues now spoke to the sentinel, who was sauntering 
near. After a brief exchange of questions and answers in the 
tongue of the latter, the interpreter communicated what had 
passed. 



THE REDSKINS. 389 

'• This Cliippewa lias heard somewhere," he said, "that there 
are folks in this part of the world who get into wigwams, by 
agreeing to pay rent for them, and, when once in possession, 
they want to fly from their agreements, and make the man 
they got it from prove his right to it. Is that true, colonel ?" 

" It is true, out of all question, and not only do the tenants 
wish to enact this treachery, but they have found others, that 
call themselves legislators, who are willing to sustain them iii 
the fraud. It is much as if you should borrow, or hire a rifle 
for a day's sporting, and when the man who let you have it, 
came to claim it at night, you should tell him to prove he was 
the right owner." 

" What's that to me ? I got the rifle of him ; have no right 
but such as he had ; and am bound to stand by my bargain. 
No, no, colonel ; not a redskin on the prer-ies but would 
revolutionize at that ! But, what may have brought you here, 
at this time o' night ? Them that sleep in beds, don't like to 
quit them 'till mornin' comes to tell 'em to rise." 

I then gave Manytongues an account of the visit I had re- 
ceived, without mentioning the name of Opportunity, however, 
and related the nature of the warning I had heard. The inter- 
preter was in nowise disturbed at this prospect of a collision 
with the Injins, against whom he had a grudge, not only on 
account of the little afiair of the preceding day, but mainly in 
consequence of their ha\dng brought real savages into discredit, 
by the craven and clumsy manner in which they had carried 
out their imitation. 

" Nothin' better is to be expected from such critturs," he 
observed, after we had discussed the matter together, at some 
little length, "though fire is held to be lawful warfare, even on 
the prer-ies. For my part, I'm not at all sorry there is some- 
thing to do ; nor will my chiefs be melancholy on this account, 
for it is dull work to be doing nothing, for months and months 
at a time, but smoking at councils, making speeches to folks 
who live by talking, and eating and drinking. Activity is the 
natur' of a prcr-ie man, and he's always glad to pick his flint, 



390 THE REDSKINS. 

after a spell of considerable quiet. I'll tell tlie Chippewa to 
step in, and bring out tlie redskins, a'ter -wliich you can give 
your orders." 

" I could wisli watchfulness rather than violence. The men 
can lie in watch, near the principal buildings, and it might be 
well to have some water ready, to extinguish any flames that 
may be lighted, before they get too far ahead." 

" Just as you say, colonel, for you are my captain-general. 
But, I can tell you how I did once, out on the prer-ies, when I 
caught a rascal of a Sioux blowing a fire he had kindled at one 
of my own lodges. I just laid him on the flames, and let him 
put them out himself by bleeding on them." 

" We must have no violence, unless it become indispensable 
to save the buildings. The law will not justify us, in using our 
arms, except in the last extremity. Prisoners I wish you to 
take ; for they may serve as hostages, besides furnishing exam- 
ples to intimidate other ofl"enders. I rely on you to give due 
warning to our red friends, on this subject." 

The interpreter gave a sort of grunt, but he said nothing. 
The conversation went no farther, however, just then ; for, by 
this time, the Indians came stealing out of the house, every 
man of them armed, looking dusky, prepared and full of wari- 
ness. Manytougues did not keep them long, but soon told hia 
story. After this, his authority appeared, in a great measure, 
to cease. Flintyheart was now the most prominent of the par- 
ty, though Prairiefire, and another wan'ior, were also connected 
with the orders given to the rest. I observed that Eaglesflight 
had no part in these arrangements, which were peculiarly 
military, though he appeared, armed and ready, and went forth 
on the sudden call, like the rest. In five minutes the Indians 
were all off, principally in pairs, leaving the interpreter and 
myself still standing together, in front of the deserted house. 

It was, by this time, past one o'clock, and I thought it prob- 
able my enemies would soon appear, if they came that night. 
Accompanied by the interpreter, I took the way toward the 
Nest House, it occurring to me that arms might be wanted, in 



THE REDSKINS. 391 

the course of the inorniug. On quitting my room, the rifle and 
pistol provided by John had been left there, and I thought of 
stealing into the house again, obtaining those weapons, extin- 
guish my light, and rejoin my present companion, without givinj* 
alarm to any of the sleepers. 

This plan was successfully executed, so far as ascending to 
ray room and descending to the door were concerned, but there 
it met with an interruption. While in the very act of closing 
the little postern, as we used to call it, by way of pleasantry, I 
felt a small soft hand laid on the one of my own which was 
drawing-to the door after me. In an instant I had turned, and 
was at the side of Mary Warren. I expressed, my surprise at 
finding her still up, and concern lest she might sufter in health, 
in consequence of so much unusual watchfulness, 

*^ I could not sleep after what has passed to-night," she an- 
swered, " without knowing the meaning of all these movements. 
I have been looking from my window, and saw you assist Oj>- 
portunity to get on her horse, and afterward walk toward the 
old farm-house, where the Indians are lodged. Tell me franklv, 
Mr. Littlepage, is there any danger to be apprehended ?" 

" I shall be frank with you, Mary" — how easy and pleasant 
it was to me to use this gentle familiarity, which might now be 
assumed without appearing to be presumptuous, under all the 
circumstances of our intercourse ; "I shall be frank with you, 
Mary ; for I know that your prudence and self-command will 
prevent jiny unnecessary alarm, while your watchfulness may 
be of use. There is some reason to fear the bi-and." 

"The brand!" 

" So Opportunity has given me reason to suppose ; and I do 
not think she would have ridden the distance she did, at such 
an hour, unless her business were serious. The brand is the 
proper instrument of the anti-rcutcr, and renders his disguise 
convenient I have got all the red-men on the look-out, how- 
ever ; and I do not think that mischief can be done to-night, 
without its l»cing detected. To-morrow, wc can appeal to the 
authorities f(tr protection." 



392 THE REDSKINS. 

"I will not sleep this night!" exclaimed Mary, drawing the 
light shawl she wore, as a protection against the air of that sum- 
mer-night, more closely around her person, as a sterner being 
might be supposed to gird on his armor in a moment of periL 
" I care not for rest. They ought not, they shall not, Mr. 
Littlepage, do you this wrong. Have you apprehensions for 
this house ?" 

" One never knows. This house is not easily set fire to from 
without, and I scarcely think there can be any enemy within. 
The domestics are old and tried, and I do not believe that 
either of them could be bought. I feel little apprehension, 
therefore, from any within, while I confess to a good deal from 
those without. Fire is such a dreadful foe, and one is usually 
so helpless against its ravages in the country ! I will not ask 
you to retire, for I know you will not — nay, cannot sleep; but, 
by passing from window to window, for the next hour, or until 
I rejoin you, your mind will be occupied, and possibly some 
injury might be prevented. An unseen observer from a window 
might detect an attempt that would escape those on the watch 
without." 

"I will do so," said, Mary eagerly ; " and should I discover 
any thing, I will open a leaf of the shutter of my own room. 
You can then see the light of the candle within, and by coming 
at once to this door, you will find me here, ready to let you 
know my discovery." 

"With this understanding we parted, but not until I had 
shaken hands aff'ectionately with this gentle-looking, but really 
resolute and clear-headed girl. I rejoined Many tongues, who 
stood in the shadows of the piazza, where there was no possi- 
bility of his being seen, except by one quite near his person. 
After a brief explanation, we parted, one taking the north side 
of the buildings, and the other the south, in order to make cer- 
tain no incendiary was at work on cither of the wings. 

The Nest House was much less exposed to attempts like 
those we apprehended, than most American dwellings. The 
structure being of stone, left but little inflammable matcriid 



THE REDSKINS. 393 

accessible ; and tlie doors, on the exterior, were only two — 
those already mentioned. There was a great gate, it is true ; 
one large enough to admit a cart into the inner court, on the 
southern face of the wing, beneath the arch of which an incen- 
diary might, indeed, make his attempt, though a practised 
rogue would at once see the difficulties. Little wood was even 
there, beyond that of the massive gate itself, which, once burnt, 
would leave no further fuel for flames. I examined the place, 
notwithstanding ; and finding all safe on my side of the build- 
ing, I went to rejoin the .interpreter, who was to meet me at 
the foot of a fine beech, which spread its broad arms over the 
lawn, at the distance of about a hundred yards from the house, 
and so nearly in its front, as to afford us, in all respects, the most 
eligible position for sentinels on duty like ours, far or near. 

At the foot of that beech I found Manytongucs, and the deep 
obscurity in which his form was embedded, was, of itself, a high 
recommendation of the position. I did not see him until al- 
most near enough to touch him. He was seated on a bench, 
and seemed entirely at his ease, like one accustomed to am- 
bushes, vigilance, and midnight assaults. We exchanged re- 
ports, ascertained all Avas well, and then I took my seat at the 
interpreter's side, willing to beguile the time by such discourse 
as occurred to my mind. 

"That was a most interesting scene, last evening," I remark- 
ed; " the interview between Old Trackless and your red com- 
panions! I own a lively curiosity to know what particular 
claim our aged friend has on those distant tribes, that" chiefs of 
note have come so far to see him ?" 

" They have not come all the way from the prer-ics, to this 
spot, on any such ar'n'd, though I do not question their readi- 
ness to do so. In the first place, old age, when accompanied 
by Avisdom, and sobriety, and a good character, goes a great 
way with savages, in gin'ral. But there is something partic'Iar 
about the acts of Susquesus that I do not know, which raises 
him higher than common in redskin eyes. I intend to I'arn 
what it is before we quit this country." 



r>94 THE REDSKINS. 

A pause succeeded; tlion I spoke of the "prer-ies," as aK 
most all western men pronounce the word. I" drew such an 
outline of the life as I supposed my companion passed there, 
thinking it might be agreeable to hear his own habits and en 
joyments extolled. 

"I'll tell you how it is, colonel," returned the interpreter, 
with a little show of feeling ; much more than he had previ- 
ously manifested on any occasion during our short acquaintance ; 
" yes, I'll jist tell you how it is. Prer-ie life is delightsome to 
them that loves freedom and justice." 

" Freedom I can understand," said I, interrupting him, in 
iny surprise — " but as for justice, I should think that laws arc 
absolutely necessary." 

"Ay, that's a settlement idee, I knoAv, but it's not as true as 
some supposes. There is no court and jury like this, colonel," 
slapping the breech of his rifle with energy, " and eastern pow- 
der conspired with Galena lead, makes the best of attorneys. 
I've tried both, and speak on sartainty. Law druv' me out 
upon the prer-ies, and love for them keeps me there. Down 
this-a-way, you're neither one thing nor tuther — law nor rifle ; 
for, if you had law, as law ouffht to be, you and I wouldn't be 
sitting here, at this time of night, to prevent your mock Injins 
from setting fire to your houses and barns." 

There was only too much truth in this last position of the 
straightforward interpreter to be gainsaid. After making some 
proper allowances for the difficulties of the case, and the unex- 
pected circumstances, no impartial man could deny that the 
laws had been trifled with, or things never would have reached 
the pass they had : as Manytongues affirmed, we had neither 
the protection of the law, nor the use of the rifle. It ought to 
be written in letters of brass in all the highways and places of 
resort in the country, that a state of society which pretends 
TO the protection that belonqs to civilization, and fails 
to give it, only makes the condition of the honest portion 
■)F the community so much the worse, dy depriving it of 



THE REDSKINS. 395 

THE PROTECTION CONFERRED BY NATURE, WITHOUT SUPPLYING 
THE SUBSTITUTE. 

I dare say the interpreter and I sat an hour under that tree, 
conversing in low voices, on such matters and things as came 
uppermost in our minds. There was a good deal of true prer- 
ie philosophy in the opinions of my companion, which is much 
as if one should say his notions were a mixture of clear natural 
justice and strong local prejudices. The last sentiment he 
uttered was so very characteristic as to merit particular notice, 

"I'll tell you how it is, colonel," he said, " right is right, 
and nonsense is nonsense. If so be, we should happen to catch 
one of these mocking rascals firing your house or barn, it would 
be a smart chance at justice to settle things on the spot. If I 
had my way, I should just tie the fellow, hands and feet, and 
toss him into the flames to help him along with his oavu work. 
A rascal makes the best of kindling-wood !" 

Just at that instant I saw an upper leaf of the inside shutter 
of Mary Wan-en's room open, for my eye was resting on the 
window at that very moment. The light had been brought so 
near the opening as plainly to show the change, leaving no 
doubt that my fair sentinel within had made some important 
discovery. At such a summons I could not hesitate ; but, tell- 
ing Manytongucs to continue his watchfulness, I went across 
the lawn with the steps of youth and haste. In two minutes 
my hand was on the latch of the little door ; and, in two sec- 
onds more, it was open, and I found myself standing in front of 
Mary Warren. A gesture from her hand induced me to be 
cautious, and closing the door silently, I asked an explanation. 

" Speak not too loud," whispered the anxious girl, preserving 
a wonderful self-command, nevertheless, for the extraordinary 
circumstances in which she was placed,'' I have discovered 
them ; they are here !" 

" Ilere ! — not in the house, surely V 

"In the house itself! — in the kitchen, where they are kind- 
ling a fire on the floor at this instant. Come quickly ; — there 
is not a moment to lose." 



396 THE REDSKIJrS. 

It may "bo well to explain here the arrangement of the Mtcb- 
cns and oflSces, in order to render what is to follow the more 
intelligible. The gateway mentioned cut the southern wing of 
the house into two equal parts, the chambers, however, extend- 
ing the whole length, and of course passing over it. On the 
western side of this gateway were certain oflSces connected with 
the eating-rooms, and those eating-rooms themselves. On the 
eastern side were the kitchen, servants' hall, scullery, etc, and 
a flight of narrow stairs that led to the chambers occupied by 
the domestics. The outside door to this latter portion of the 
building was beneath the arch of the gateway, one correspond- 
ing to it opening on its opposite side, and by means of which 
the service was ordinarily made. There was a court, environed 
on three of its sides by the main edifice, and by the two long, 
low wings that have been so often mentioned, while it Avas open 
on the fourth to the cliff. This cliff was low land, while it was 
nearly perpendicular, it was possible for an active man to ascend, 
or even to descend it, by clinging to the rocks, which were 
sufficiently ragged to admit of such an adventure. When a 
boy I had done both fifty times, and it was a somewhat com- 
mon experiment among the male domestics and hirelings of the 
household. It occurred to me at once that the incendiaries 
had most probably entered the house by ascending the cliff, the 
kitchen of itself furnishing all the materials to light a conflagra- 
tion. 

The reader will be assured that, after receiving the startling 
communication of Mary Warren, I did not stop to discuss all 
these matters with her. My first impulse was to desire her to 
run to the beech, and bid Manytongues join me, but she refused 
to quit my side. 

"No — no — no. You must not go to the kitchen alone," 
she said, hurriedly. "There are tivo of them, and desperate 
looking wretches are they, with their faces blackened, and they 
have muskets. No — no — no. Come, /will accompany you." 

I hesitated no longer, but moved forward, Mary keeping close 
at my side. Fortunately, I had brought the rifle with me, and 



THE REDSKINS. 397 

the revolving pistol was in my pocket. We went by the eating- 
rooms and offices, the course taken by Mary herself on licr 
watch. ; and who, in looking tbrougli a small window of one of 
the last, that opened beneath the gateway, had discovered what 
was going on, by means of a similar window in the kitchen. As 
we went, the noble girl told me that she had kept moving 
through the lower rooms of the whole house during the time I 
had been on watch out of doors, and, attracted by the light 
that gleamed through these windows, she had distinctly seen 
two men, with blackened faces, kindling a fire in a corner of 
the kitchen, where the flames must soon communicate with the 
stairs, by means of which they would speedily reach the attics 
and the wood work of the roof. Fortunately, the floors of 
all that part of the house were made of bricks ; that of the 
servants' hall excepted, which was a room beyond the narrow 
passage that contained the stairs. As soon as apprised of the 
danger, Mary Warren had flown to the window of her own 
room, to make the signal to me, and then to the door to meet 
me. But three or four minutes had elapsed between the time 
when she became apprised of the danger and that when we 
were walking hurriedly to the window beneath the gateway. 

A bright light, which shone through the opposite window 
announced the progress made by the incendiaries. Requesting 
Mary to remain where she was, I passed through the door, and 
descended to the pavement of the gateway. The little window 
beneath the arch was too high for my purposes, when on that 
level, but there was a row of low windows that opened on the 
court. To one of these I moved swiftlj^, and got a clear view 
of all that was passing within. 

"There they are!" exclaimed Mary, who, neglectful of my 
request, still kept close at my side. " Two men with blackened 
laces, and the wood of which they have made their fire is blaz- 
ing brightly." 

The fire, now I saw it, did not confirm the dread I felt when 
I had it before me only in imagination. The stairway had an 
onon place beneath it, and on the brick fl'oor below had the 



398 THE REDSKINS. 

incendiaries built their pile. It was constructed, at the bottom, 
of some of the common wood that was found there, in readiness 
for the wants of the cook in the morning, lighted by coals taken 
from the fireplace. A considerable pile had been made with 
the wood, which was now burning pretty freely, and the two 
rascals were busy piling on the chairs when I first saw them. 
They had made a good beginning, and in ten or fifteen minutes 
longer there is no doubt that all that portion of the house would 
liave been in flames. 

" You said they had muskets," I whispered to Mary. "Do 
jj^ou see them now ?" 

" No : when I saw them, each held his musket in one hand, 
and worked with the other." 

I could have shot the villains without difficulty or risk to my- 
self, but felt deeply averse to taking human life. Still, there 
Avas the prospect of a serious struggle before me, and I saw the 
necessity of obtaining assistance. 

" Will you go to my uncle's room, Mary, and tell him to 
rise immediately. Then to the front door of the house, and 
call out * Many tongues, come here as fast as possible.' It will 
take but two minutes to do both, and I Avill watch these rascals 
in the mean time." 

"I dread leaving you here alone with the wretches, Mr. Lit- 
tlepage," whispered Mary, gently. 

An earnest entreaty on my part, however, induced her to com- 
ply ; and, no sooner did the dear girl set about the accomplish- 
ment of the task, then she flew rather than ran. It did not 
seem to me a minute ere I heard her call to the interpreter. 
The night was so still, that, sweet as were those tones, and busy 
as were the incendiaries, they heard them too ; or fancied they 
heard something which alarmed them. They spoke to each 
other, 4ooked intently at their infernal work for a single instant, 
sought their arms, which were standing in the corner of the 
kitchen, and were evidently preparing to depart. 

The crisis was near. There was not time to receive assist- 
ance before the two fellows would be out, and I must either 



THE REDSKINS. 39S 

meet them in conflict, or suffer them to escape. My first im- 
pression was to shoot down the leading man, and grapple with 
the other ere he had time to prepare his arms. But a timely 
thought prevented this hazardous step. The incendiaries were 
retiring, and I had a doubt of the legality of killing a retreating 
felon. I believed that my chances before a jury would be far 
less than those of an ordinary pickpocket or highway robber, 
and had heard and read enough to be certain there were thou- 
sands around me who would fancy it a sufficient moral provoca- 
tion for all which had passed, that I held the fee of farms that 
other men desired to possess. 

A majority of my countrymen will scout this idea as forced 
and improbable. But, majorities are far from being infallible in 
their judgments. Let any discreet and observant man take a 
near view of that which is daily going on around him. If he 
do not find in men this disposition to distort principles, to per- 
vert justice, and to attain their ends regardless of the means, 
then will I admit I do not understand human nature, as human 
nature exhibits its deformity in this blessed republic of ours. 

There was no time to lose, however ; and the course I actu- 
ally decided to take will be soonest told by relating things as 
they occurred. I heard the door open, and was ready for ac- 
tion. Whether the incendiaries intended to retreat by the cliff, 
or to open the gate, which was barred within, I could not tell ; 
but I was ready for either alternative. 

No sooner did I hear a step on the pavement of the gateway 
than I discharged my rifle in the air. This was done as an 
alarm-signal. Clubbing the piece, I sprang forward, and felled 
the foremost of the two, with a sharp blow on his hat. The 
fellow came down on the pavement like an ox under the axe of 
the slaughter-house. Dropping the rifle, I bounded over his 
body, and grappled with his companion. All this was done so 
rapidly as to take the rascals completely by surprise. So sud- 
Jen, indeed, was my assault on the follow who stood erect, that 
no was under the necessity of dropping his rifle, and at it we 
went, clenched like bears in the doath-hug. I was young and 



400 T II E R E D S K 1 N S . 

active, but my antagonist was the stronger man of tlic two. lie 
had also the advantage of being practised in wrestling, and 1 
soon went down, my enemy falling on top of me. Luckily, I 
fell on the body of the other incendiary, who was just beginning 
to discover signs of consciousness after the crushing blow he 
had received. My chance would now have been small but for 
assistance. The incendiary had caught my neck-handkerchief, 
and was twisting it to choke me, when I felt a sudden relief. 
The light of the fire shone through the kitchen doors, render- 
ing every thing distinct beneath the arch. Mary came flying 
back just in time to rescue me. With a resolution that did her 
honor, she caught up the rifle I had dropped, and passed its 
small end between the bent arms of my antagonist and his own 
back, raising it at the same time like a lever. In the brief in 
tcrval of breathing this ready expedient gave me, I rallied my 
force, caught my enemy by the throat, made a desperate efibrt, 
threw him off, and over on his side, and was on my feet in an 
instant. Drawing the pistol, I ordered the rascal to yield, or to 
take the consequences. The sight of this weapon secured the 
victory, the black-faced villain shrinking back into a corner, 
begging piteously not to be shot. At the next moment, the 
interpreter appeared under the arch, followed by a stream of 
redskins, Avhich had been turned in this direction by the alarm 
given by my rifle. 



THE REDSKINS. 401 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



" Tc say they all have passed a-way. 
That noble race and brave : 
That their light canoes have vanished 

From oflF the crested wave : 
That 'mid the forests where they roamed 

There rings no hunter's shout: 
But their name is on your waters, 
Ye may not wash it out." 

Mks. Sigoukney. 



Directing Manytongues to secure tlie two incendiaries, I 
sprang into the kitchen to extinguish the flames. It was high 
time, though Mary Warren had already anticipated me here, 
too. She had actually thrown several dippers of water upon 
the fire, which was beginning to crackle through the pile of 
chairs, and had already succeeded in lessening the flames. I 
knew that a hydrant stood in the kitchen itself, which gave a 
full stream of water. Filling a pail, I threw the contents on the 
flames ; and repeating the application, in half a minute the room 
was filled with vapor, and to the bright light succeeded a dark- 
ness that was so deep as to suggest the necessity of finding 
lamps and candles. 

The tumult produced by the scene just described soon 
brought all in the house to the spot. The domestics, male and 
female, came tumbling down the stairs, under which the fire 
had been lighted, and presently candles were seen glancing 
about the house, in all directions. 

" I declare, Mr. Hugh," cried John, the moment he had 
taken a survey of the state of the kitchen, " this is worse than 
llirelaiul, sir! The Ilanicricans aflcet to laugh at the poor 
lliiish, and calls their country savage, and hunfit to be iii'abitcd, 



•402 THE n E D S K I N s . 

but uothing worse passes in it than is beginning to pass 'ere. 
Them stairs would have been all in flames in a few minutes, 
and them stairs once on fire, not one of hus, up in the hattics, 
could 'ave escaped death ! Don't talk of Hireland, after this !" 

Poor John ! his prejudices are those of an Englishman of 
his class, and that is saying as much in favor of their strength 
as can be well said of any prejudices. But, how much truth 
was there in his remark ! The quiet manner in which we assume 
superiority, in morals, order, justice and virtue, over all other 
nations, really contains an instructive lesson, if one will only 
regard things as they really are. I have no wish to exaggerate 
the faults of my own country, but certainly I shall not remorse- 
lessly conceal them, when the most dangerous consequences are 
connected with such a mistake. As a whole, the disorders, 
disturbances, and convulsions of America have certainly been 
much fewer than those of most, perhaps of all other Christian 
nations, comparing numbers, and including the time since the 
gi'eat experiment commenced. But, such ouffht to have been 
the result of our facts, quite independently of national character. 
The institutions leave nothing for the masses to struggle for, 
and famine is unknown among us. But what does the other side 
of the picture exhibit ? Can any man point to a country in 
Europe in which a great political movement has commenced on 
a principle as barefacedly knavish as that of transferring prop- 
erty from one class of men to another. That such a project 
does exist here, is beyond all just contradiction; and it is 
equally certain that it has carried its devices into legislation, 
and is fast corrupting the government in its most efficient 
agents. John was right in saying we ought not to turn up our 
noses at the ebullitions of abused and -trodden-on "Hireland," 
while our own skirts are to be cleared of such sins against the 
plainest dictates of right. 

Tlic lire was extinguished, and the house was safe. The 
kitchen was soon cleared of the steam and smoke, and in their 
places appeared a cloud of redskins. Prairiefire, Eaglesflight, 
and Flintyheart, v.crc all there, examining the cflects of the 



THE REDSKINS. 403 

fire, witla. stern and interested countenances. I looked round 
for Mary Warren ; but that gentle and singularly feminine girl, 
after manifesting a presence of mind and decision that would 
have done honor to a young man of her own age, had shrunk 
back with sensitive consciousness, and now concealed herself 
among the others of her sex. Her duty, so eminently useful 
and protective, had been performed, and she was only anxious to 
have it all forgotten. This I discovered only next day, however. 
Manytongues had secured the incendiaries, and they were 
now in the kitchen, also, with their hands tied together, and 
arms bound behind their backs, at the elbows. As their faces 
remained black, it was out of my power to recognize either. 
The rascal who had been felled by the blow of the rifle was yet 
confused in manner, and I ordered the domestics to wash him, 
in the double expectation of bringing him more completely to 
his senses, and of ascertaining Avho he might be. 

The work was soon done, and both objects were attained. 
The cook used a dishcloth with so much dexterity, that the 
l)lack-a-moor came out a white man, at the first application, and 
he was soon as clean as a child that is about to be sent to 
school, fresh from the hands of its nurse. The removal of the 
disguise brought out the abashed and frightened physiognomy 
of Joshua Brigham, Miller's hired man — or rmj hired man, in 
effect, as I paid him his wages. 

Yes ! such was one of the effects of the pernicious opinions 
that had been so widely circulated in the land, during the pro- 
found moral mania that was working its ravages among us, with 
a fatality and danger that greatly exceed those which accom- 
panied the cholera. A fellow, who was almost an inmate of 
my family, had not only conspired with others to rob me of my 
property, on a large scale, but ho had actually carried his plot 
so far as to resort to the brand and the rifle, as two of tho 
agents to be employed in carrjdng out his virtuous objects. 
Nor was this the result of the vulgar disposition to steal ; it 
was purely a consequence of a widely-extended system, that is 
fast becoming incorporated with the politics of the land, and 



404 THE REDSKINS. 

which men, relying on the efficacy of majorities, are hold enough 
to stand up, in legislative halls, to defend.* 

I confess that the discovery of the person of Joshua Brig- 
ham rendered me a little curious to ascertain that of his com- 
panion. Hester, the cook, was directed to take the other child 
in hand, as soon as she had well wiped the countenance .of the 
one first unmasked. Nothing loth, the good housewife set 
about her task, and the first dab of water she applied revealed 
the astounding fact that I had again captured Seneca Newcome ! 
It will be remembered, that the last time I saw these two men 
together, I left them figbting in the highway. 

I admit that this discovery shocked me. There never had 
been a being of the Newcome tribe, from the grandfather, who 
was its root at Ravensnest, down to Opportunity, who had ever 
been esteemed, or respected among us. Trick — trick — trick — 
low cunning, and overreaching management, had been the fam- 
ily trait, from the day Jason, of that name, had rented the mill 
lot, down to the present hour. This I had heard from my 
grandfather, my grandmother, my own father, my uncle, my 

* In order tliat the reader who is not familiar with what is passing in New Tork may 
not suppose that exaggerated terms are here used, the wiiter will state a single expe- 
dient of the anti-renters in the legislature to obtain their ends. It is generally known 
that the Constitution of the United States prevents the separate states from passing 
laws impairing the obligations of contracts. But for this provision of the Federal 
Constitution, it is probable, numbers would have succeeded, long ago, in obtaining the 
property of the few on their own terms, amid shouts in honor of liberty! This provi- 
sion, however, has proved a stubborn obstacle, until the world, near the middle of the 
nineteenth century, has been favored with the followng notable scheme to effect the 
ends of those who " want farms and must have them." The state can regulate, by 
statute, the laws of descents. It has, accordingly, been solemnly proposed in tho 
legislature of New York, that the statute of descents should be so far altered, that 
when a landlord, holding lands subject to certain leasehold tenures, dies, or a descent is 
cast, that it shall be lawful for the tenants, on application to the chancellor, to convert 
these leasehold tenures into mortgages, and to obtain the fee-simple of the estates in 
payment of the debt! In other words, A leases a farm to B for ever, reserving a 
ground-rent, with covenants of re-entry, «&c., &c. B wishes a deed, but will not pay 
A's price. The United States says the contract shall not be impaired, and the legisla- 
ture of New Tork is illustrated by the expedient we have named, to get over the pro- 
vision of the Constitution ! 

Since writing tho foregoing, this law has actually passed tho Assemblj', though it 
has not been adopted by the Senate. Tho provision included all leased property, when 
tho leases were for more than twenty-one years, or were on lives.— Editoe. 



THE REDSKINS. 405 

aunts and all, older than myself, who belonged to me. Still, 
there they had been, and habit had created a sort of feeling for 
them. There had, also, been a species of pretension about the 
family, which brought them more before us, than most of the 
families of the tenantry. The grandfather had received a sort 
of an education, and this practice had been continued, after a 
manner, down to the unfortunate wretch who now stood a pris' 
oner taken flagrante delict it, and for a capital crime. Seneca 
could never have made a gentleman, as the term is understood 
among gentlemen ; but he belonged to a profession which ought 
to raise a man materially above the level of the vulgar. Oppor- 
tunity, too, had received her quasi education, a far more pre- 
tending one than that of my own Patt, but nothing had been 
well taught to her ; not even reading, inasmuch as she had a de- 
cided provincial pronunciation, which sometimes grated on my 
nerves. But, Opportunity had feelings, and could not have 
anticipated her own brother's intentions, when she communi- 
cated the important information she had. Opportunity, more- 
over, had more refinement than Seneca, in consequence of 
having a more limited association, and she might full into des- 
pair, at this unexpected result of her own acts ! 

I was still reflecting on these things, when summoned to my 
grandmother. She was in her own dressing-room, surrounded 
by the four girls ; just so many pictures of alarm, interest, and 
female loveliness. Mary Warren, alone, was in regular toilette; 
but the others, with instinctive coquetry, had contrived to wrap 
themselves up, in a way to render them handsomer than ever. 
As for my dear grandmother herself, she had been told that the 
liouse was safe, but felt that vague desire to see me, that was 
perhaps natural to the circumstances. 

" The state of the country is frightful," she said, when I 
had answered a few of her questions, and had told her who the 
prisoners really were ; " and we can hardly remain here, in 
safety. Think of one of the Newcomes — and of Seneca, in 
particular, with his profession and education, being engaged in 
such a crime I" 



406 THE REDSKINS, 

" Nay, grandmother," put in Patt, a little archly, " I never 
yet heard you speak well of the Newcomcs ; you barely toler- 
ated Opportunity, in the hope of improving her." 

" It is true that the race is a bad one, and the circumstances 
show what injury a set of false notions, transmitted from father 
to son, for generations, may do in a family. We cannot think 
of keeping these dear girls here, one hour after to-morrow, 
Hugh. To-morrow, or to-day, for it is now past two o'clock, I 
see ; — to-day is Sunday, and we can go to church ; to-night we 
will be watchful, and Monday morning, your uncle shall start 
for Satanstoe, with all three of the girls." 

" I shall not leave my dear grandmother," rejoined Patt — 
"nor do I think it would be very kind to leave Marji Warren 
behind us, in a place like this." 

" I cannot quit my father," said Mary herself, quietly, but 
very firmly. "It is his duty to remain with his parishioners, 
and more so, now that so many of them are misguided, than at 
any other time ; and it is always my duty, and my pleasure, to 
remain with him.'''' 

Was that acting ? Was that Pharisaical ? Or was it genuine 
nature ; pure filial affection and filial piety ? Beyond all ques- 
tion, it was the last ; and, had not the simple tone, the earnest 
manner, and the almost alarmed eagerness, with which the dear 
girl spoke, proclaimed as much, no one could have looked in 
at that serene and guileless eye and doubted. My grandmother 
smiled on the lovely earnest speaker, in her kindest manner, 
took her hand, and charmingly observed — 

" Mary and I will remain together. Her father is in no dan- 
ger, for even anti-renters will respect a minister of the gospel, 
and can be made to understand it is his duty to rebuke even 
their sins. As for the other girls, I think it is our duty to in- 
sist that your uncle's wards, at least, should no longer be exposed 
to dangers like those we have gone through to-night." 

The two young ladies, however, protested in the prettiest 
manner possible, their determination not to quit "grandmam- 
ma," as they affectionately termed their guardian's mother ; and 



THE REDSKINS. 407 

while they were thus employed, my uuclo Ro entered the room, 
having just paid a visit to the kitchen. 

"Here's a charming affair!" exclaimed the old bachelor, as 
soon as iu our midst. " Arson, anti-rentism, attempts at mur- 
der, and all sorts of enormities, going hand in hand, in the very 
heart of the wisest and best community that earth ever knew ; 
and the laws as profoundly asleep the whole time, as if such 
gentle acts were considered meritorious. This outdoes repu- 
diation twenty-fold, Hugh. 

" Ay, my dear sir, but it will not make a tithe of the talk. 
Look at the newspapers that will be put into your hands to- 
morroAv morning, fresh from Wall and Pine and Anne streets. 
They will be in convulsions, if some unfortunate wight of a 
senator speak of adding an extra corporal to a regiment of foot, 
as an alarming war-demonstration, or quote the fall of a fancy 
stock that has not one cent of intrinsic value, as if it betokened 
the downfall of a nation ; while they doze over this volcano, 
which is raffinfj and o-atherinff streno;th beneath the whole com- 
niunity, menacing destruction to the nation itself, which is tlie 
father of stocks." 

" The intense selfishness that is uppermost is a bad symptom, 
certainly ; and no one can say to what it will lead. One thing 
is sure ; it causes men to limit all their calculations to the pres- 
ent moment; and to abate a nuisance that presses on our exist- 
ing interests, they will jeopard every thing that belongs to the 
future. But what are we to do with Seneca Newcome, and his 
co-rascal, the other incendiary ?" 

" I had thought of referring that to your discretion, sir. 
They have been guilty of arson, I suppose, and must take their 
chances, like every-day criminals." 

" Their chances will be very good ones, Hugh. Had you 
been caught in Seneca Newcome's kitclien, setting fire to his 
house, condign and merciless punishment would have been ?/o«r 
lot, beyond all controversy ; but their cases will be very differ- 
ent. I'll bet you a hundred that they'll not be convicted ; and 
a thousand that they arc pardoned, if convicted." 



408 THE REDSKINS. 

" Acquitted, sir, will be out of tlie question — Miss Warren 
and I saw tliem both, in the very act of building their fire ; and 
there is plenty of testimony, as to their identity." 

This indiscreet speech drew every eye on my late compan- 
ion ; all the ladies, old and young, repeating the name of 
"Mary !" in the pretty manner in which the sex express sur- 
prise. As for Mary, herself, the poor blushing girl shrunk back 
abashed, ashamed of she knew not what, unless it might be in 
connection with some secret consciousness, at finding herself so 
strangely associated with me. 

"Miss Warren is, indeed, in her evening dress," said my 
grandmother, a little gravely, " and cannot have been in bed 
this night. How has this happened, my dear ?" 

Thus called on, Mary Warren was of too guileless and pure a 
mind, to hesitate in telling her tale. Every incident, with which 
she had been connected, was simply and clearly related, though 
she suppressed the name of our midnight visitor, out of tender- 
ness to Opportunity. All present were too discreet to ask the 
name, and, I may add, all present heard the narrative with a 
marked and approving interest. When Mary had done, my 
grandmother kissed her, and Patt, the generous creature, encii • 
cled her waist, with the tenderness and affection of a sister, who 
felt for all the trials the other had endured. 

"It seems, then, we owe our safety to Marj^, after all!" 
exclaimed my good grandmother ; " without her care and 
watchfulness, Hugh might, most probably would, have re- 
mained on the lawn, until it was too late to save the house, or 
us." 

"That is not all," added uncle Eo. "Any one could have 
cried ' fire,' or given a senseless alarm, but it is evident from 
Miss Warren's account, unpremeditated and artless as it is that, 
but for the cool and discreet manner in which she played her 
part, not one-half of that which has been done, would have been 
effected, and that the house might have been lost. Nay, had 
these fellows surprised Hugh, instead of Hugh's surprising 
them, we might have been called on to deplore his loss." 



THE REDSKINS. 409 

I saw a common sliudder in Patt and Mary, as they stood 
encircling eacli other with their arms ; but the last was evidently 
so pained, that I interfered for her relief. 

*' I do not see any possibility of escape for these incen- 
diaries," I said, turning to my uncle, " under the testimony 
that can be offered, and am surprised to hear you suggest a 
doubt of the result of the trial." 

"You feel and reason like a very young man, Ilugh ; one, 
who fancies things are much nearer what they ought to be than 
facts will sustain. Justice is blind, nowadays, not as a proof 
of impartiality, but as a proof that she too often sees only one 
side of a question. How will they escape ? Perhaps the jury 
may fancy setting fire to a pile of wood and certain chairs, is 
not setting fire to a house, let the animus be as plain as the 
noses on their faces. Mark mc Hugh Littlepage ; one month 
will not go by, before the events of this very night will be tor- 
tured into an argument in favor of anti-rentism." 

A common exclamation, in which even my grandmother 
joined, expressed the general dissent from this opinion. 

"It is all very well, ladies," answered my uncle Ro, coolly 
— "all well enough, Master Hugh; but let the issue tell its 
own story. I have heard already other abuses of the anti-renters 
urged as a reason wliy the laws should be changed, in order 
ihat men may not be tempted beyond their strength ; and why 
lot use the same reasoning in favor of this crime, when it has 
been used already, in cases of murder ? ' The leasehold tenures 
make men commit murder,' it is said, 'and they ought to be 
destroyed,' themselves. 'The leasehold tenures make men 
commit arson,' it will now be said, ' and who desires to retain 
laws that induce men to commit arson V " 

" On the same principle it might be pretended there should 
be no such thing as personals, as they tempt men, beyond what 
they can bear, to commit petty larceny." 

" No doubt it could, and no doubt it tvoidd, if political su- 
premacy were to be the reward. There is nothing — no fallacy, 
no moral sophism, that would not be used to attain such an 
18 



410 , THE UEDSIvINS. 

end. But, it is late, and we ought to betliiulc us of disposing 
of the prisoners for the niirht — what means this light ? The 
house is not on fire, after all !" 

Sure enough, notwithstanding the close shutters, and draAvn 
curtains of my grandmother's dressing-room, an unusual light 
had penetrated to the place, filling us with sudden and intense 
alarm. I opened the door, and found the passages illuminated, 
though all within appeared tranquil and safe. There was a 
clamor in the court, however, and presently the fearful war- 
whoop of the savages rose on the night air. The cries came 
from without, as I fancied, and rushing to the little door, I was 
on the lawn in a moment, when the mystery was solved. An 
extensive hay-barn, one well filled with the remainder of the 
last year's crops, was on fire, sending its forked and waving 
tongues of flame at least a hundred feet into the aii\ It was 
merely a new argniment against the leasehold tenures, and in 
fjivor of the " spirit of the institutions," a little vividly pressed 
on the human senses. Next year, it may figure in the message 
of a governor, or the philanthropical efforts of some Albany 
orator, if the same "spirit" prevail in the "institutions," as 
would seem to prevail this ! Is a contract to be tolerated which 
induces freemen to set barns on fire ? 

The barn that had been set on fire stood on the flats, below 
the clitF, and fully half a mile from the Nest. The conflagra- 
tion made a most brilliant blaze, and, as a matter of course, 
produced an intense light. The loss to myself did not exceed 
a few hundred dollars ; and, while this particular argument in 
favor of anti-rentism was not entirely agreeable, it was not so 
grave as it might have been, had it been urged on other build- 
ings, and in the same mode. In other words, I was not so 
much distressed with my loss as not to be able to see the beauty 
of the scene ; particularly as my uncle Ro whispered that Dun- 
ning had caused an insurance to be effected in the Saratoga 
Mutual Assurance, which would probably place a considerable 
portion of the tenants in the unlooked-for category of those 
who were to pny for their own frolic. 



THE REDSKINS. 411 

As it was too late to think of saving the barn and ricks, and 
Miller, with his people, had already descended to the spot to 
look after the fences, and any other object that might be en- 
dangered by the flying embers, there was nothing for us to do 
but to remain passive spectators. Truly, the scene was one 
worthy of being viewed, and is not altogether unfit for descrij) 
tion. 

The light of that burning barn extended for a great distance, 
shining like what it was, an " evil deed in a naughty world ;" 
for, notwithstanding the high authority of Shakspeare, it is 
your " evil deeds," after all, that produce the brightest blazes, 
and which throw their beams the ferthest, in this state of pro- 
bation in which we live. 

The most remarkable objects in that remarkable scene were 
the true and the false redskins — the " Indians" and the " Injins" 
— both of whom were in motion on the meadows, and both of 
whom were distinctly visible to us where we stood, on the 
cliffs (the ladies being at their chamber windows), though 1 
dare say they were not quite so obvious to each other. 

The Indians had formed themselves into a very open ordei, 
and were advancing toward the other party in a stealtliy man- 
ner, by creeping on all-fours, or crouching like catamounts to 
the earth, and availing themselves of every thing like a cover 
that offered. The burning barn was between the two parties, 
and was a principal reason that the "Injins" were not sooner 
aware of the risk they ran. The last were a whooping, shout- 
ing, dancing, leaping band, of some forty or fifty of the " dis- 
guised and armed," who were quite near enough to the coufia- 
gration to enjoy it, without being so near as to be necessarily 
connected with it. We understood their presence and antics 
to be intended as so many intimations of the secret agency they 
had had in the depredations of the night, and as so many warn- 
ings how I withstood the " spirit of the institutions." 

Manytongucs, who had certain vague notions of the necessity 
of his keeping on the windy side of the law, did not accom- 
pany his red brethren, but came through the gateway and joined 



412 THE UEDSKINS. 

my uncle and myself, as we stood beneath tlie cover of a noLIe 
chestnut, on the verge of the cliff, watching the course of 
things on the meadow. I expressed my surprise at seeing him 
there, and inquired if his presence might not be needed by Flin- 
tyheart or Prairiefire. 

"Not at all, not at all, colonel," he answered with perfect 
coolness. "The savages have no great need of an intarpreter 
in the business they are on ; and if liarm comes of the meetin', 
it's perhaps best that the two panics should not understand 
each other, in which case it might all be looked on as an acci- 
dent. I hope they'll not be particular about scalps — for I told 
Flintyheart, as he was leaving us, the people of this part of the 
world did not like to be scalped." 

This was the only encouragement we received from the in- 
terpreter, who appeared to think that matters were now in the 
right train, and that every difficulty would soon be disposed of, 
secundum artem. The Injins, however, viewed the affair differ- 
ently, having no wish for a serious brush with any one ; much 
less with enemies of the known character of redskins. How 
they ascertained the presence of their foe I cannot say, though 
it is probable some one saw them stealing along the meadows, 
in spite of all their care, and gave the alarm. Alarm it was, 
sure enough ; the party of the previous day scarce retreating 
through the woods with greater haste than the "disguised and 
armed" now vanished. 

Such has been the fact, as respects these men, in every in- 
stance in which they have been brought in contact with armed 
bodies, though much inferior to their own in numbers. Fierce 
enough, and even brutal, on a variety of occasions in which in- 
dividuals have become subject to their power, in all cases in 
which armed parties, however small, have been sent against 
them, they have betrayed timidity and a dread of making that 
very appeal to force, which, by their own previous acts, they 
had insolently invited. Is it then true, that these soi-disant 
" Injins" have not the ordinary courage of their race, and that 
Ihev arc less than Americans, with arms in their hands, and 



THE REDSKINS. 413 

below the level of all around them in spirit? Such is not the 
case. The consciousness of guilt has made them cowards ; 
they have found " that the king's name is a tower of strength," 
and have shrunk from conflicts, in which the secret warnings 
that come from on high have told them that they were embod- 
ied in a wicked cause, and contending for the attainment of 
wrong ends by unjustifiable means. Their conduct proves how 
easy it would have been to suppress their depredations at the 
earliest day, by a judicious application of tlie power of the state, 
and how much they have to answer for who have neglected their 
duty in this particular. 

As soon as Flintyheart and his followers ascertained that the 
" disguised and armed" were actually off again, and that they 
were not to pass the morning in a skirmish, as no doubt each 
man among them had hoped would be the case, they set up 
such whoops and cries as had not been heard on those meadows 
during the last eighty years. The period went beyond the 
memory of man since Indian warfare had existed at Ravensnest, 
a few false alarms in the revolution excepted. The effect of 
these yells was to hasten the retreat, as was quite apparent to 
us on the cliffs ; but the sagacious warriors of the prairies knew 
too much to expose their persons by approaching nearer to the 
blazing barn than might be prudent. On the contrary, seem- 
ingly satisfied that nothing was to be done, and disdaining a 
parade of service where no service was to be effected, they 
slowly retired from the meadows, regaining the cliffs by means 
known to themselves. 

This military demonstration, on the part of our red brethren, 
was not without its useful consequences. It gave the " Injins" 
an intimation of watchfulness, and of a readiness to meet them 
that prevented any new alarm that night, and satisfied every 
body at the Nest tliat our immediate danger had come to an 
end. Not only was this the feeling of my uncle and myself, 
but it was also the feeling of the females, as we found on re- 
turning to the house, who had witnessed all that passed from 
the upper windows. After a short interview with my grand- 



Hi THE REDSKINS. 

mother, slie consented to retire, and preparations were made for 
setting a look-out, and dismissing every body to their beds 
again. Manytongues took charge of the watcli, thougli he 
laughed at the probability of there being any further disturbance 
that night. 

"As for the redskins," he said, "they would as soon sleep 
out under the trees, at this season of the year, as sleep under a 
roof; and as for waking — cats a'nt their equals. No — no — 
colonel ; leave it all to me, and I'll carry you through the night 
as quietly as if we were on the prer-ies and living under good 
wholesome prer-ie law." 

"As quietly, as if we were on the prairies!" We had then 
reached that pass in New York, that after one burning, a citizen 
luight really hope to pass the remainder of his night as quietly 
as if he were on the prairies ! And there was that frothy, 
lumbering, useless machine, called a government, at Albany, 
within fifty miles of us, as placid, as self-satisfied, as much con 
vinced that this was the greatest people on earth, and itself 
their illustrious representatives, as if the disturbed counties 
were so many gardens of Eden, before sin and transgression 
had become known to it ! If it was doing any thing in the 
premises, it was probably calculating the minimum the tenant 
should pay for the landlord's land, Avhen the latter might be 
sufficiently worried to part with his estate. Perhaps, it was 
illustrating its notions of liberty, by naming the precise sum 
that one citizen ought to accept, in order that the covetous 
longings of another should be satisfied ! 

I was about to retire to my bed, for the first time tliat night, 
y,\ieii my uncle Ro remarked it might be well to see one of our 
prisoners at least. Orders had been given to unbind the 
wretched men, and to keep them in an empty store-room, 
Avhich had no available outlet but the door. Thither we then 
repaired, and of course were admitted by the sentinels, without 
a question. Seneca Newcomo Avas startled at my appearance, 
and I confess I was myself embarrassed how to address him, 
from a wish to say nothing that might appear like exultation ou 



T EI E REDSKINS. 415 

ooc side, or concession on tlie other. My uncle, however, Itnd 
no such scruples, probahly from better knowing his man ; ac- 
cordingly, he came to the point at once. 

" The evil spirit must have got great ascendency in the coun- 
try, Seneca Newcome, when men of your knowledge, dip so 
deeply into his designs," said Mr. Littlepage, sternly. "What 
has my nephew ever done to incite you. to come into his house, 
as an incendiary, like a thief in the night?" 

"Ask me no questions, Mr. Littlepage," surlily replied the 
:ittorney, "for I shall answer none." 

" And this miserable misguided creature who has been your 
companion. The last we saw of these two men, Hugh, they 
were quarrelling in the highway, like cat and dog, and there are 
signs about their ffices that the interview became still more hos- 
tile than it had been, after we left them." 

*' And here we find them togetlicr, companions in an enter- 
prise of Ufe and death !" 

"It is ever thus with rogues. They will push their quarrels 
to extremities, and make them up in an hour, when the demon 
of rapine points to au object for common plunder. You see 
the same spirit in politics, ay, and even in religion. Men that 
have lived in hostiUty, for half their lives, contending for selfish 
objects, will suddenly combine their powers to attain a common 
end, and work together like the most true-hearted friends, so 
long as they see a chance of effecting their wishes. If honesty 
were only one-half as active as roguery, it would fare better 
tlian it does. But the honest man has his scruples ; his self- 
respect ; his consistency, and, most of all, his principles, to mark 
out his course, and he cannot turn aside at each new imjiulse, 
.ike your pure knave, to convert enemies into friends, and 
friends into enemies. And you," turning to Josh Brigham, 
who was looking surlily on — " who have actually been eating 
Hugh Littlepage's bread, what has he done, that you should 
come at midnight, to burn him up like a caterpillar in the spring ?" 

" lie has had his farm long enough" — muttered the fellow — 
I' it's time that poor folks had some chance." 



416 THE REDSKINS. 

My uncle shrugged his shoulders ; then, as if he suddenly 
recollected himself, he lifted his hat, bowed like a thorough- 
bred gentleman as he was, "when he chose to be, wished Seneca 
good night, and walked away. As we retired, he expressed his 
conviction of the uselessness of remonstrance, in this case, and 
of the necessity of suffering the law to take its own course. It 
might be unpleasant to see a Newcome actually hanged, but 
nothing short of that operation, he felt persuaded would ever 
fetch up the breed in its evil courses. Wearied with all that 
had passed, I now went to bed, and slept soundly for the suc- 
ceeding seven hours. As the house was kept quiet by orders, 
every body repaired the lost time, the Nest being as quiet as in 
those days in which the law ruled in the republic. 



THE U E U S K I N S . 



41V 



CEAPTER XXIV. 



' Well may wc sing her beauties 
This pleasant land of ours, 
Ilcr sunny smiles, her golden fruita, 

And all her world of flowers. 
And well would they persuade U3 now. 

In moments all too dear. 
That, sinful though our hearts may be. 
Wo have our Eden here." 

Sim. MS. 



TuE following day was Sunday. I did not rise until nine, 
and when I withdrew the curtains and opened the shutters of 
my window, and looked out upon the lawn, and the fields be- 
yond it, and the blue void that canopied all, I thought a love- 
lier day, or one more in harmony with the tranquil character 
of the Avhole scene, never shone from the heavens. I threw up 
the sash, and breathed the morning air which filled niy dress- 
ing-room, pregnant with the balms and odors of the hundred 
sweet-smelling flowers and plants that embellished the shrub- 
beries. The repose of the Sabbath seemed to rest on man and 
beast ; the bees and humming-birds that buzzed about the 
flowers, even at their usual pursuits seemed as if conscious of 
the sanctity of the day. I think no one can be insensible to 
the difference there is between a. Sabbath in the country and 
any other day of the week. Most of this, doubtless, is the sim- 
ple consequence of abstaining from labor ; but, connected with 
the history of the festival, its usual observances, and the holy 
calm that appears to reign around, it is so very obvious and 
imprcpsive, that a Sunday in a mild day in June, is to me ever 
a delicious resting-place, as a mere poetical pause in the bustling 
and turmoil of this world's time. Such a day was that which 



418 THE REDSKINS. 

succeeded tlie niglit through which we liad just passed, ;uid it 
came most opportunely to soothe the spirits, tranquillize tlie 
apprehensions, and afford a moment for sober reflection. 

There lay the smouldering ruins of the barn, it is true ; a 
blackened monument of a wicked deed ; but the mood which 
had produced this waste and wrong appeared to have passed 
away ; and, in all other respects, {at and near, the farms of 
Ravensnest had never spread themselves before the eye in colors 
more in consonance with the general benevolence of a bounti- 
ful nature. For a moment, as I gazed on the broad view, I 
felt all my earlier interests in it revive, and am not ashamed to 
oivn that a profound feeling of gratitude to God came over me, 
when I recollected it was by his Providence I was born the 
hell to such a scene, instead of having my lot cast among the 
serfs and dependents of other regions. 

After standing at the window a minute, in contemplation of 
that pkasing view, I drew back, suddenly and painfully con- 
scious of the character and extent of the combination that 
existed to /ob me of my rights in it. America no longer seemed 
America to my eyes ; but, in place of its ancient submission to 
the law, it'J quick distinction between right and wrong, its 
sober and discriminating liberty, Avhich equally avoided submis- 
sion to the injustice of power, and the excesses of popular delu- 
sions, there had been substituted the rapacity of the plundei'cr, 
rendered formidable by the insidious manner in which it was 
interwoven Avith political machinery, andthe truckling of the 
wretches intrusted with authority ; men Avho Avere playing into 
the hands of demagogues, solely in order to secure majorities to 
perpetuate their OAvn influeuice. Was, then, the state really so 
corrupt as to lend itself to projects as base as those openly main- 
tained by the anti-renters ? Far from it : four men out of five, if 
not a larger proportion, must be, and indeed are, sensible of the 
ills that their success Avould entail on the community, and Avould 
lift up heart and hand to-moiTOAv to put them doAvn totally and 
without pity; but they haA-e made themselves slaA'es of the 
lamp ; have enlisted in the ranks cf parti/, and dare not oppose 



THE KEDSKINS. 419 

dicir leaders, avIio wield tlicm as Napoleon wielded his masses, 
to further private views, apostrophizing and affecting an homage 
to liberty all the while ! Such is the history of man ! 

When the family met in the breakfast-room, a singular tran- 
quillity prevailed among us. As for my grandmother, I knew 
her spirit and early experience, and was not so much surprised 
to find her calm and reasonable ; but these qualities seemed 
imparted to her four young companions also. Patt could laugh, 
and yield to her buoyant spirits, just the same as if nothing had 
occurred, while my uncle's other wards maintained a lady-like 
quiet, that denoted any thing but apprehension. Mary Warren, 
however, surprised me by her air and deportment. There she 
sat, in her place at the table, looking, if possible, the most 
feminine, gentle, and timid of the four. I could scarcely believe 
that the blushing, retiring, modest, pretty daughter of the rector 
could be the prompt, decided, and clear-headed young girl who 
had been of so much service to me the past night, and to whose 
coolness and discretion, indeed, we were all indebted for the 
roof that was over our heads, and some of us, most probably, 
for our lives. 

Notwithstanding this air of tranquillity, the breakfast was a 
silent and thoughtful meal. ]\Iost of the conversation was be- 
tween my uncle and grandmother, and a portion of it related to 
the disposal of the prisoners. There was no magistrate within 
several miles of the Nest, but those who were tainted with anti- 
rentism ; and to carry Seneca and his companion before a jus- 
tice of the peace of this character, would be, in effect, to let 
them go at large. Nominal bail would be taken, and it is more 
than probable the constable employed would have suffered a 
rescue, did they even deem it necessary to go through this 
parade of performing their duties. My uncle, consequently, 
adopted the following plan. He had caused the two incen- 
diaries to be transferred to the old farm-house, w-hich happened 
to contain a perfectly dry and empty cellar, and which had 
much of the security of a dungeon, without the usual defects of 
obscurity and dampness. The rcd-mcn had assumed the office 



420 THE REDSKINS. 

of sentinels, one having his station at the door, while another 
watched near a windoAV which admitted the light, while it was 
scarcely large enough to permit the human body to squeeze 
through it. The interpreter had received instructions from the 
agent to respect the Christian Sabbath ; and no movement 
being contemplated for the day, this little duty just suited their 
lounging, idle habits, when in a state of rest. Food and water, 
of course, had not been forgotten ; and there my uncle Ro had 
left that portion of the business, intending to have the delin- 
quents carried to a distant magistrate, one of the judges of the 
county, early on Monday morning. As for the disturbers of 
the past night, no signs of them were any longer visible ; and 
there being little extensive cover near the Nest, no apprehen- 
sion was felt of any surprise. 

"We were still at breakfast, when the tone of St. Andrew's 
bell came floating, plaintively, through the air, as a summons 
to prepare ourselves for the services of the day. It was little 
more than a mile to the church, and the younger ladies ex- 
pressed a desire to walk. My grandmother, attended by her 
son, therefore, alone used the carriage, while we young people 
went off in a body, on foot, half an hour before the ringing of 
the second bell. Considering the state of the country, and the 
history of the past night, I was astonished at my own indifTcr- 
cnce on this occasion, no less than at that of my charming 
companions ; nor was it long before I gave utterance to the 
feeling. 

"This America of ours is a queer place, it must be admit- 
ted," I cried, as we crossed the lawn to take a foot-path that 
would lead us, by pleasant pastures, quite to the church-door, 
without entering the highway, except to cross it once ; "here 
we have the whole neighborhood as tranquil as if crime never 
disturbed it, though it is not yet a dozen hours since riot, 
arson, and perhaps murder, were in the contemplation of hun- 
dreds of those who live on every side of us. The change is 
wonderful !" 

" But, you will remember it is Sunday, Hugh," put in Tiiit. 



TIIEREDSKINS. 42 1 

" All summer, when Sunday has come, wc have had a respite 
from disturbances and fears. In this part of the country, the 
people are too religious to think of desecrating the Sabbath by 
violence and armed bands. The anti-renters would lose more 
than they would gain by pursuing a different course." 

I had little or no difficulty in believing this, it being no un- 
usual thing, among us, to find observances of this nature cling- 
ing to the habits of thousands, long after the devout feeling 
which had first instilled it into the race has become extinct. 
Something very like it prevails in other countries, and among 
even higher and more intellectual classes, where it is no unusual 
thing to find the most profound outward respect manifested 
toward the altar and its rites, by men who live in the hourly 
neglect of the first and plainest commands of the decalogue. 
We are not alone, therefore, in this pharisaical spirit, which 
exists, in some mode or other, wherever man himself is to be 
found. 

But, this equivocal piety was certainly manifested to a strik- 
ing degree, that day, at Ravensnest, The very men who were 
almost desperate in their covetous longings appeared at church, 
and went through the service with as much seeming devotion 
as if conscious of no evil ; and a general truce appeared to pre- 
vail in the country, notwithstanding there must have been much 
bitterness of feeling among the discomfited. Nevertheless, I 
could detect in the countenances of many of the old tenants of 
the family, an altered expression, and a coldness of the eye, 
which bespoke any thing but the ancient friendly feeling which 
had so long existed between us. The solution was very simple ; 
demagogues had stirred up the spirit — not of the institutions, 
but — of covetousncss, in their breasts ; and so long as that 
evil tendency predominated, there was little room fur better 
feelings. 

" Now, I shall have another look at the canopied pew," I 
cried, as we entered the last field, on our way to the church. 
"That offensive, but unoffending object, had almost gone out 
of my mind's eye, until my uncle recollected it, by intimating 



422 THE REDSKINS. 

that Jack Dunning, as he calls his fricud and council, had writ- 
ten hira it must come down," 

" I agree with Mr. Dunning altogether," answered Martha, 
quickly. "I wish with all my heart, Hugh, you would 
order that hideous-looking thing to be taken away this very 
week." 

" Wliy this earnestness, my dear Patt ? There has the 
hideous thing been ever since the church was built, which is 
now these threescore years, and no harm has come of it, as I 
know." 

" It is harm to be so ugly. It disfigures the church ; and 
then I do not think distinctions of that sort are proper for the 
house of God. I know this ever has been my grandmother's 
opinion ; but finding her father-in-law and husband desirous 
of such an ornament, she consented in silence, during their 
lives." 

" What do you say to all this. Miss Warren," I asked, turn- 
ing to my companion, for by some secret influence I Avas walk- 
ing at her side. " Are you ' up canopy' or * down canopy' ?" 

" 'Down canopy,' " answered Mary, firmly. " I am of Mrs. 
Littlepage's opinion, that churches ought to contain as little as 
possible to mark Avorldly distinctions. Such distinctions are 
inseparable from life, I know ; but it is to prepare for death 
that we enter such buildings." 

"And your father. Miss Warren — have you ever heard him 
si)eak of my unfortunate pew ?" 

Mary hesitated an instant, changed color, then looked up into 
my face with a countenance so ingenuous and lovely, that I 
would have forgiven her even a severe comment on some act of 
folly of my own. 

"My father is an advocate for doing away with pews alto- 
gether," she answered, "and, of course, can have no particular 
wish to preserve yours. He tells me, that in the churches of 
the Romanists, the congregation sit, stand, or kneel, promis- 
cuously before the altar, or crowd around the pulpit, without 
any distinction of rank or persons. Surely, that is better than 



THE REDSKINS. 423 

bringing into the very temple the most pitiful of all worldly 
classifications, that of mere money." 

" It is better, Miss Warren ; and I wish, with all my heart, 
the custom could be adopted here. But the church that might 
best dispense with the support obtained from pews, and which 
by its size and architecture, is best fitted to set the example of 
a new mode, has gone on in the old way, I understand, and has 
its pews as well as another." 

"Do we get our custom from England, Hugh!" demanded 
Martha, 

"Assuredly ; as we do most others, good, bad and indifferent. 
The property-notion would be very likely to prevail in a coun- 
try like England ; and then it is not absolutely true that 6very 
body sits in common, even in the churches of the continent of 
the old world. The seigneur, under the old regime, in France, 
had his pew, usually ; and high dignitaries of the state in no 
country are found mingling with the mass of Avorshippers, un- 
less it be in good company. It is true, a duchesse will kneel 
in the crowd, in most Romish churches, in the towns, for there 
are too many such persons to accommodate all with privileged 
seats, and such honors are reseiTcd for the very great ; but in 
the country, there are commonly pews, in by-places, for the 
great personages of the neighborhood. We are not quite so 
bad as we fancy ourselves, in this particular, though we might 
be better." 

" But you will allow that a canopied pew is unsuited to this 
country, brother ?" 

" Not more to this, than to any other. I agree that it is 
unsuited to all places of worship, where the petty differences 
between men, which are created by their own usages, should 
sink into insignificance, in the direct presencQ, as it might be, 
of the power of God. But, in this country, I find a spirit ris- 
ing, wliich some persons would call the ' spirit of the institu- 
tions,' that is forever denying men rewards, and honors, and 
credit exactly in the degree in which they deserve tliem. The 
:Domcnt a citizen's head is seen above the crowd of faces around 



424 THE K E D S K 1 N S . 

him, it becomes the mark of rotten eggs, as if he were raised 
in the pillory, and his fellow-creatures would not tolerate any 
difference in moral stature." 

"How do you reconcile that with the great number of Catos, 
and Brutuses, not to say of the Gracchi, that are to be found 
among us ?" asked Mary Warren, slyly. 

" Oh ! these are the mere creatures of party — great men for 
the nonce. They are used to serve the purposes of factions, and 
are be-greated for the occasion. Thus it is, that nine-tenths of 
the Catos you mention, are forgotten, even by name, every 
political lustrum. But let a man rise, independentli/ of the peo- 
ple, by his own merit, and see how the people will tolerate 
him. Thus it is with my pew — it is a r/reat pew, and become 
great without any agency of the * folks ;' and the ' folks' don't 
like it." 

The girls laughed at this sally, as light-hearted, happy girls 
will laugh at any thing of the sort ; and Patt put in her retort, 
in her own direct, spirited manner. 

" It is a ffreat ugly thing, if that concession will flatter your 
vanity," she said, " and I do entreat it may come doAvn f/rcathj, 
this present week. Keally, you can have no notion, Hugh, how 
much talk it has made of late." 

" I do not doubt it, my dear. The talk is all aimed at the 
leases ; every thing that can be thought of, being dragged into 
the account against us poor landlords, in order to render our 
cause unpopular, and thus increase the chances of robbing us 
with impunity. The ffood people of this state little imagine that 
the very evil that the enemies of the institutions have long pre- 
dicted, and which their friends have as warmly repudiated, are 
now actively at work among us, and that the great experiment is 
in imminent danger of failing, at the very moment the pcoj)le are 
loudly exulting in its success. Let this attemjyt on property 
succeed, ever so indirectly, and it will be followed up by 

OTHERS, WHICH WILL AS INEVITABLY DRIVE US INTO DESPOTISM, 
AS A REFUGE AGAINST ANARCHY, AS EFFECT SUCCEEDS TO CAUSE. 

The danger exists, now, in its very worst form — that of politi 



THE REDSKINS. 425 

cal dcmagogueism — aud must be met, face to face, and put 
down manfully, and on true principles, or, in my poor judg- 
ment, we are gone. Cant is a prevailing vice of the nation, 
more especially political and religious cant, and cant can never 
be appeased by concessions. My canopy shall stand, so long 
as anti-rentism exists at Ravensnest, or be torn down by vio- 
lence ; when men return to their senses, and begin to sec the 
just distinctions between meuvi and tutim, the cook may have 
it for oven-wood, any day in the week." 

As we were now about to cross the stile that communicated 
with the highway, directly in front of the church, the conver- 
sation ceased, as unsuited to the place and the occasion. The 
congregation of St. Andrew's was small, as is usually the case 
with the country congregations of its sect, which are commonly 
regarded with distrust by the descendants, of the Puritans in 
particular, and not unfrcquently with strong aversion. The 
rowdy religion — half-cant, half-blasphemy — that Cromwell and 
his associates entailed on so many Englishmen, but which was 
not without a degree of ferocious, narrow-minded sincerity 
about it, after all, has probably been transmitted to this coun- 
try, with more of its original peculiarities than exist, at the 
present day, in any other part of the world. Much of the 
narrow-mindedness remains; but, unhappily, when liberality 
does begin to show itself in these sects, it is apt to take the 
character of latitudinarianism. In a word, the exaggerations 
and false principles that were so common among the religious 
fanatics of the American colonies in the seventeenth century, 
•which burnt witches, hanged Quakers, and denounced all but 
the elect few, are now running their natural race, with the goal 
of infidelity in open view before them. Thus will it be, also, 
with the abuses of poUtical liberty, which must as certainly 
terminate in despotism, unless checked in season ; such being, 
not the ^^ spirit of the institutions," but the tendency of human 
nature, as connected with every thing in which the right is 
abandoned to sustain the wrong." 

Mr. Warren, I found, was a popular preacher, notwithstand- 



426 T II K REDSKINS. 

ing tlie disfavor ■with whicli liis sect Avas generally regarded. A 
prejudiced and provincial people were naturally disposed to lool< 
at every thing that differed from their own opinions and habits 
with dislike ; and the simple circumstance that he belonged to 
a churcn that possessed bishops, was of itself tortured into a 
proof that his sect favored aristocracy and privileged classes. 
It is true that nearly every other sect in the country had orders 
in the church, under the names of ministers, elders, and dea- 
cons, and was just as liable to the same criticism ; but then 
the)' did not possess bishops, and having that which we do not 
happen to have ourselves, usually constitutes the gist of an 
offence, in cases of this sort. Notwithstanding these obstacles 
to popularity, Mr. Warren commanded the respect of all around 
liim ; and, strange as it may seem, none the less because, of all 
the clergy in that vicinity, he alone had dared to rebuke the 
spirit of covetousness that was abroad, and which it suits the 
morals of some among us to style the "spirit of the institu- 
tions ;" a duty he had discharged on more than one occasion, 
and with great distinctness and force, though temperately and 
under the full influence of a profound feeling of Christian 
charity. This conscientious course had given rise to menaces 
and anonymous letters, the usual recourse of the mean and 
cowardly ; but it had also increased the weight of his charac- 
ter, and extorted the secret deference of many who would glad- 
ly have entertained a difterent feeling toward him, had it been 
in their power. 

My grandmother and uncle Avere already seated in the cano- 
pied pew when we pedestrians entered the church. Mary 
Warren turned into another aisle, and proceeded to the pew 
reserved for the rector, accompanied by my sister, while the 
other two young ladies passed up to the chancel, and took their 
customary places. I followed, and for the first time in my life 
was seated beneath the ofl'cnsive canopy vested with all the 
rights of ownership. By the term " canopy," however, the 
reader is not to imagine any thing like festooned drapery — 
crimson colors and gilded laces ; our ambition had never soared 



THE REDSKIKS. 



427 



so liigh. The amount of the distinction between this pew .and 
any other in the church was simply this : it was larger and 
more convenient than those around it, an advantage which any 
other might have equally enjoyed who saw fit to pay for it, as 
had been the case with us, and it was canopied with a heavy, 
clumsy, ill-shaped sort of a roof, that was a perfect caricature 
of the celebrated baldachino of St. Peter's, in Kome. The 
first of these advantages probably excited no particular envy, 
for it came within the common rule of the country, of " play 
and pay ;" but as for the canopy, that was aristocratic, and 
was not to be tolerated. Like the leasehold tenure, it was op- 
posed to the " spirit of the institutions." It is true, it did no 
real harm, as an existing thing ; it is time, it had a certain use, 
as a memorial of past opinions and customs ; it is true, it was 
property, and could not be touched without interfering with its 
privileges ; it is true, that every person who saw it secretly felt 
there was nothing, after all, so very inappropriate in such a 
pew's belonging to a Littlcpage ; and, most of all, it was true 
that they who sat in it never fancied for a moment that it made 
them any better or any worse than the rest of their fellow-crea- 
tures. There it was, however ; and, next to the feudal charac- 
ter of a lease, it was the most offbnsivc object then existing in 
Ravcnsnest. It may be questioned if the cross, which occupied 
the place that, according to provincial orthodoxy, a weathercock 
should have adorned, or Mr. Warren's surplice, was one-half as 
offensive. 

When I raised my head, after the private devotions which 
arc customary with us semi-papishes, on entering a place of 
worship, and looking around me, I found that the building was 
crowded nearly to overflowing. A second glance told mc that 
nearly every eye was fastened on myself. At first, the canopy 
having been uppermost so lately in my mind, I fancied that the 
looks were directed at that ; but I soon became satisfied that I, 
in my own unworthy person, was their object. I shall not stop 
to relate most of the idle and silly* reports that had got abroad, 
in connection with the manner and reason of my disguised ap- 



428 THE REDSKINS. 

pcarance in the hamlet, the preceding day, or in connection 
Avith any thing else, though one of those reports was so very 
characteristic, and so entirely pecuHar to the subject in hand, 
that I cannot omit it. That report was simply a rumor that I 
had caused one of my own barns to be set on fire, the second 
night of my arrival, in order to throw the odium of the act on 
those " virtuous and hard-working husbandmen," who only 
maintained an illegal and armed body on foot, just to bully and 
worry me out of my property. Yes, there I sat ; altogether 
unconscious of the honor done me ; regarded by quite half that 
congregation as the respected and just-minded youth, who had 
devised and carried out precisely such a rascally scheme. Now, 
no one who has not had the opportunity to compare, can form 
any idea how much more potent and formidable is the Ameri- 
can '' folks say," than the vulgar reports of any other state of 
society. The French on dit is a poor, pitiful report, placed by 
the side of this vast lever, which, like that of Archimedes, only 
wants a stand for its fulcrum, to move the world. The Ameri- 
can " folks say" has a certain omnipotence, so long as it lasts, 
Avhich arises from, not the spirit, but the character of the insti- 
tutions, themselves. In a country in which the people rule, 
"folks" are resolved that their "say" shall not pass for noth- 
ing. So few doubt the justice of the popular decision, that 
holy writ, itself, has not, in practical effect, one-half the power 
that really belongs to one of these reports, so long as it suits the 
common mind to entertain it. Few dare resist it ; fewer still 
call in question its accuracy ; though, in sober truth, it is hard- 
ly ever right. It makes and unmakes reputation, for the time 
being hien cntendu ; it even makes and unmakes patriots, 
themselves. In short, though never quite truth, and not often 
very much like the truth, paradoxical as it may appear, it is 
truth, and nothing but the truth, pro hac vice. Every body 
knows, nevertheless, that there is no permanency to what 
" folks say" about any thing ; and that " folks" frequently, 
nay, almost invariably, "unsay" what has been said six months 
before ; yet, all submit to the authority of its dicta, so long as 



THE nKDSKiNS. 429 

"folks" choose to "say." The only exception to this rule, 
and it merely proves it, is in the case of political parties, when 
there are always two " folks say" which flatly contradict each 
other ; and sometimes there are half-a-dozen, no two of which 
are ever precisely alike ! 

There I sat, as I afterward learned, " the observed of all ob- 
servers," merely because it suited the purposes of those who 
v/ished to get away my estate to raise various reports to my 
prejudice — not one . of which, I am happy to have it in my 
power to say, was in any manner true. The first good look 
that I took at the congregation satisfied me that very m;ich the 
larger part of it consisted of those who did not belong to St. 
Andrew's church. Curiosity, or some worse feeling, had tyebled 
the number of ^Ir. Warren's hearers that day — or, it might be 
more correct to say, of my observers. 

There was no other interruption to the services than that 
which was produced by the awkwardness of so many who were 
strangers to the ritual. The habitual respect paid to religious 
rites kept every one iu order ; and, in the midst of a feeling 
that was as malignant and selfish as well could exist under cir- 
cumstances of so little provocation, I was safe from violence, 
and even from insult. As for myself, little was or could be 
known of my character and propensities at Ravensnest. School, 
college, and travelling, with winter residences in town, had 
made me a sort of stranger in my own domain, and I was re- 
garded through the covenants of my leases, rather than through 
any known facts. The same was true, though in a less degree, 
with my uncle, who had lived so much abroad as to be consid- 
ered a sort of half foreigner, and one who preferred other coun- 
tries to his own. This is an ofi"ence that is rarely forgiven by 
the masses in America, though it is probably the most venial 
sin that one who has had the opportunities of comparing can 
commit. Old nations offer so many more inducements than 
young nations to tempt men of leisure and cultivation to reside 
m them, that it is not surprising the travelled American should 
prefer Europe to his own quarter of the world ; but the jealousy 



430 THE REDSKINS. 

of a provincial people is not apt to forgive this preference. For 
myself, I have heard it said, and I believe it to be true, to a 
certain extent, that countries on the decline, supposing them to 
have been once at the summit of civilization, make pleasanter 
abodes for the idler than nations on the advance. This is one 
of the reasons why Italy atrracts so many more visitors than 
England, though climate must pass for something in such a 
comparison. But these long absences, and supposed prefer- 
ences for foreign life, had made my wncle Ro, in one sense, 
unpopular with the mass, which has been taught to believe, by 
means of interested and fulsome eulogies on their own state of 
society, that it implies something more than a want of taste, 
almost a want of principle, to prefer any other. This want of 
popularity, however, was a good deal relieved by a wide and 
deep conviction of my uncle's probity, as well as of his liberality, 
his purse having no more string to it than General Harrison's 
door was thought to have a latch. But the case was very dif- 
ferent Avith my grandmother. The early part of her life had 
been spent at the Nest, and it was impossible so excellent a 
woman could be any thing but respected. She had, in truth, 
been a sore impediment Avith the anti-renters ; more especially 
in carrying out that part of their schemes which is connected 
with traduction, and its legitimate oftspring, prejudice. It 
would hardly do to traduce this noble-minded, charitable, 
spirited, and just Avoman ; yet, hazardous as the experiment 
must and did seem, it was attempted, and not altogether Avith- 
out success. She Avas accused of an aristocratic preference of 
her own family to the families of other people. Patt and I, it 
Avas urged, were only her grandchildren, and had ample pro- 
Adsion made for us in other estates besides this — and a Avoman 
of Mrs. Littlepage's time of life, it Avas said, Avho had one foot 
in the grave, ought to have too much general philanthropy to 
give a preference to the interests of mere grandchildren, over 
the interests of the children of men Avho had paid her husband 
and sons rent, now, for quite sixty years. This attack had 
come from the pulpit, too, or the top of a molasses hogshead, 



Til E H E D S K I N S . 431 

which was made a substitute for a pul[>it, by an itinerant 
preacher, who had taken a bit of job-work, in which the pro 
mulgation of the tenets of the gospel and those of anti-rcntisiu 
was the great end in view. 

As I have said, my good grandmother suffered somewhat iu 
public estimation, in consequence of this assault. It is true, 
had any one openly charged the circulators of this silly calumny 
with their offence, they would have stoutly denied it ; but it 
was none the less certain that this charge, among a hundred 
others, varying from it only in degree, and not at all in charac- 
ter, was industriously circulated in order to render the Little- 
pages unpopular ; unpopularity being among us the sin that is 
apt to entail all the evil consequences of every other offence. 

The reader avIio is not acquainted with the interior of our 
social habits, must not suppose that I am coloring for effect. So 
far from this, I am quite conscious of having kept the tone of 
the picture down, it being an undeniable truth that nothing of 
much interest, nowadays, is left to the simple decision of princi- 
ples and laws, in this part of the country at least. The suprem- 
acy of numbers is so great, that scarce a private suit of magni- 
tude is committed to a jury, without attempts, more or less 
direct, to influence the common mind in favor of one side or 
the other, in the hope that the jurors will be induced to think 
as the majority thinks. In Europe, it is known that judges 
were, nay, are, visited and solicited by the parties ; but, here, 
it is the public that must be treated in the same way. I am 
far from wishing to blazon the defects of my own country, and 
I know from observation, that corresponding evils, diiforing 
in their exterior aspects, and in their mode of acting, exist else 
where ; but these are the forms in which some of oixr defects 
present themselves, and he is neither a friend to his country, 
nor an honest man, Avho Avishes them to be bundled up and 
cloaked, instead of being exposed, understood, and corrected. 
This notion of ' nil nisi bene' has done an infinite degree of harm 
to the country ; and, through the country, to freedom. 

I do not think the worship of the tcmi)le amounted to any 



132 THE REDSKINS. 

great matter tliat day in St. Andrew's Churcli, Kavensncst. 
Quite half the congregation was blundering through the liturgy, 
and every man who lost his place in the prayer-book, or who 
could not find it at all, seemed to fancy it was quite sufficient for 
the ritual of us semi-papists if he kept his eye on me and my 
canopied pew. How many pharisees were present, who actually 
believed that I had caused my own barn to be burned, in order 
to throw opprobrium on the "virtuous," "honest," and "hard- 
working" tenants, and who gave credits to the stories affecting 
my title, and all the rest of the stuff that calculating cupidity 
had set afloat in the country, I have no way of knowing ; but 
subsequent circumstances have given me reason to suppose they 
were not a few. A great many men left the house of God that 
morning, I make no doubt, whose whole souls were wrapped 
up in effecting an act of the grossest injustice, professing to 
themselves to thank God that they were not as wicked as the 
being whom they desired to injure. 

I stopped to say a word to Mr. Warren, in the vestry-room, 
after the people were dismissed, for he had not passed the night 
with us at the Nest, though his daughter had. After we had 
said a word about the occurrence of the morning, the good 
rector, having heard a rumor of the arrest of certain incendiaries, 
without knowing who they were, I made a more general remark 
or two previously to quitting the place. 

"Your congregation was unusually large this morning, sir," 
T said, smiling, "though not altogether as attentive as it might 
have been." 

" I owe it to your return, Mr. Littlepage, aided by the events 
of the past day or two. At one moment I was afraid that some 
secret project was on foot, and that the day and place might be 
desecrated by some scene of disgraceful violence. All has gone 
c ff well in that respect, however, and I trust that no harm will 
come of this crowd. We Americans have a respect for sacred 
tilings which will ordinarily protect the temple." 

" Did you, then, think St. Andrew's ran any risk to-day, 



THE REDSKINS. 



433 



Mr. Warren colored a little, and lie hesitated an instant be* 
fore he answered. 

"You doubtless know, young sir," he said, "the nature of 
the feeling that is now abroad in the country. With a view to 
obtain its ends, anti-rentism drags every auxiliary it can find 
into its ranks, and, among other things, it has assailed your 
canopied pew. I own, that, at first, I apprehended some assault 
might be contemplated on thaV 

" Let it come, sir ; the pew shall be altered on a general and 
right principle, but not until it is let alone by envy, malice, and 
covetousness. It would be worse to make a concession to these 
than to let the pew stand another half century." 

With these words in my mouth, I took my leave, hastening 
on to overtake the girls in the fields. 




10 



4S4 THE REDSKINS. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



"There is a pure republic — ■wild, yet strong— 
A 'fierce democracie,' where all are true 

To what themselves have voted — right or wronjj— 
And to their laws denominated blue ; 

(If red, they might to Draco's code belong.)" 

IlALLECn. 



Sucu was my liaste iu quitting the church, that I did not turn 
to the right or the left. I saw the light, but well-rounded form 
of Marj' Warren loitering along with the rest of the party, 
seemingly in waiting for me to join them ; and crossing the 
road, I sprang upon the stile, and thence to the ground, coming 
up with the girls at the next instant. 

"What is the meaning of the crowd, Hugh?" asked my 
sister, pointing down the road with the stick of her parasol, as 
she put the question. 

" Crowd ! I have seen no crowd. Every body had left the 
church before I quitted it, and all has gone off peaceably. 
Ha ! sure enough, that does look like a crowd yonder in the 
highway. It seems an organized meeting, by George ! Yes, 
there is the chairman, seated on the upper rail of the fence, and 
the fellow with a bit of paper in his hand is doubtless the sec- 
retary. Very American, and regular, all that! Some vile 
project is hatching, I'll answer for it, under the aspect of an 
expression of public opinion. See, there is a chap speaking, 
and gesticulating manfully !" 

We all stopped, for a moment, and stood looking at the 
crowd, which really had all the signs of a public meeting about 
it. There it had been, the girls told me, ever since they had 
quitted the church, and seemingly engaged much as it was at 



THE REDSKINS. 435 

that moment. The spectacle was curious, and the day being 
fine, while time did not press, we lingered in the fields, occa- 
sionally stopping to look behind us, and note what was passing 
on in the highway. 

In this manner, we might have walked half the distance to 
the Nest, when, on turning to take another look, we perceived 
that the crowd had dispersed ; some driving off in the ever- 
recurring one-horse wagon, some on horseback and others on 
foot. Three men, however, were walking fast in our direction, 
as if desirous of overtaking us. They had already crossed the 
stile, and were on the path in the field, a route rarely or never 
taken by any but those who desired to come to the house. 
Under the circumstances, I determined at once to stop and wait 
for them. First feeling in my pocket, and making sure of the 
"revolver," which is getting to be an important weapon, now 
that private battles are fought not only " yard-arm and yard- 
arm," but by regular "broadsides," starboard and larboard, I 
intimated my intention to the girls. 

"As these men are evidently coming in quest of me," I re- 
marked, "it may be as well, ladies, for you to continue your 
walk toward home, while I wait for them on this stile." 

" Very true," answered Patt. " They can have little to say 
that we shall wish to hear, and you will soon overtake us. Re- 
member, wc dine at two on Sundays, Hugh ; the evening ser- 
vice commencing at four, in this month." 

" No, no," said Mary Warren, hurricdh', " we ought not, can- 
not, quit Mr. Littlepage. These men may do him some harm." 

I was delighted with this simple, natural manifestation of in- 
terest, as well as with the air of decision with which it was 
made. Mary herself colored at her own interest, but did not 
the less maintain the ground she had taken. 

" '^^^ly, of what use can we be to Hugh, dear, even admit- 
ting what you say to be true?" answered Patt ; " it were better 
for us to hurry on to the house, and send those here who can 
assist him in such a case, than stand by idle and useless." 

As if profiting by this hint. Miss Coklbrooke and Miss Mars- 



436 THE KEDSKINS. 

ton, who were already some little distance in advance, went ofif 
almost on a run, doubtless intending to put my sister's project 
into execution. But Mary Warren stood firna, and Patt would 
not desert her friend, whatever might have been her disposition 
to treat me with less consideration. 

"It is true, we may not be able to assist Mr. Littlepage, 
should violence be attempted," the first remarked ; " but vio- 
lence is, perhaps, what is least to be apprehended. These 
wretched people so little regard truth, and they will be three to 
one, if your brother be left alone ; that it is better we stay and 
hear what is said, in order that we may assert what the facts 
really were, should these persons see fit to pervert them, as too 
often happens." 

Both Patt and myself were stmck with the prudence and 
sagacity of this suggestion ; and the former now came quite 
near to the stile, on which I was still standing, with an air as 
steady and resolute as that of Mary Warren herself. Just then 
the three men approached. Two of them I knew by name, 
though scarcely in person, while the third was a total stranger. 
The two of whom I had some knowledge, were named Bunce 
and Mowatt, and Avere both tenants of my own ; and, as I have 
since learned, warm anti-renters. The stranger was a travelling 
demagogue, who had been at the bottom of the whole afiair 
connected with the late meeting, and who had made his two 
companions his tools. The three came up to the stile, with an 
air of gi-eat importance, nor could the dignity of their demea- 
nor have been greater had they been ambassadors extraordinary 
from the Emperor of China. 

*' Mr. Littlepage," commenced Mr. Bunce, with a particu- 
larly important physiognomy, " there has been a meeting of 
the public, this morning, at which these resolutions was passed. 
We have been appointed a committee to deliver a copy of 
them to you, and our duty is now performed, by handing you 
this paper." 

" Not unless I see fit to accept it, I presume, sir," was my 
answer. 



THE REDSKINS. 43V 

** I sliould think no man, in a free country, would refuse to 
receive a set of resolutions that has been passed by a meeting 
of his fellow-citizens." 

" That might depend on circumstances ; the character of the 
resolutions, in particular. The freedom of the country it is, 
precisely, which gives one man the same right to say he cares 
nothing about your resolutions, as it does you to pass them." 

" But you have not looked at the resolutions, sir, and until 
you do, you cannot know how you may like them." 

" That is very true ; but I have looked at their bearers, have 
seen their manner, and do not quite like the assumption of 
power which says any body of men can send me resolutions, 
whether I hke to receive them or not." 

This declaration seemed to strike the committee aghast ! 
The idea that one man should hesitate to submit himself to a 
yoke imposed by a hundred, was so new and inconceivable to 
those who deem majorities all in all, that they hardly knew how 
to take it.* At first there was an obvious disposition to resent 
the insult ; then came reflection which probably told them that 
such a course might not prove so well, the Avholc terminating 
in the more philosophical determination of getting along easily. 

" Am I to understand, Mr. Littlepage, that you refuse to ac- 
cept the resolutions of a public meeting ]" 



*TIie prevalence of Hie notion of the omnipotence of mnjoTi(ics, in Atiioricn, is so 
•wide-spread and deep, among tlio people in general, as to form a distinctive trait in the 
national character. It is doing an infinity of mischief, by being mistaken for the gov- 
erning principle of the institutions, wiicn in fact it is merely a necessary expedient to 
decide certain questions which must be decided by somebody, and in some raodo or 
other. Kept in its proper sphere, the use of majorities is replete with justice, so far as 
justice cnn be exercised among nven ; abused, it opens the highway to the most intol- 
«rablc tyranny. As a matter of course, tlio errors connected with this subjoct vary 
through all the gradations of intellect and seirishiiess. The following anecdote will 
give the reader some notion how the feeling impressed a stranger shortly after his 
arrival in this country. 

A year or two since, Oio Avriter had in his service an Irislira.in who had been only 
two years in the country. It was a part of this man s duty to look after the welf.ire of 
certain pigs, of whidi one occupied the position of s" runt," "Has j-our honor l<>oke<l 
nt the pigs Lately," s;iid the honest follow, one day. "No, not lately, Pat ; is there any 
shange." "That there is, indeed, sir, and n'great change. The little follow is getting 
Oio majority of the rest, and will make the best hog of 'cm all !" — Kuitoil 



438 THE KED SKINS. 

"Yes; of half-a-dozen public meetings put togetlier, if tLoso 
resolutions are offensive, or are offered offensively." 

"As to the resolutions, you can know nothing, having never 
seen them. Of the right of any number of the people to pas3 
such resolutions as they may think proper, I presume there can 
be no question." 

" Of that right, sir, there is a very great question, as has been 
settled within the last few years, in our own courts. But, evcu 
if the right existed, and in as broad a way as you seem to think, 
it would not form a right to force these resolutions on me." 

" I am, then, to tell the people you refuse even to read their 
resolutions, 'Squire Littlepage." 

"You can tell them what you please, sir. I know of no peo- 
ple, except in the legal sense, and under the limited powers 
that they exercise by law. As for this new power, which is 
rising up in the country, and has the impudence to call itself 
the people, though composed of little knots of men got together 
by management, and practised on by falsehood, it has neither 
my respect nor dread; and as I hold it in contempt, I shail 
treat it with contempt, whenever it comes in my way." 

" I am, then, to tell the people of Ravensnest, you hold them 
in contempt, sir." 

" I authorize you to tell the people of Ravensnest nothing, as 
coming from me, for I do not know that the people of Ravens- 
nest have employed you. If you will ask me, respectfully, as 
if you were soliciting a favor instead of demanding a right, to 
read the contents of the paper you hold in your hand, I may 
be willing to comply. What I object to, is a handful of men 
getting together, setting themselves up as the people, pretend- 
ing to authority in that capacity, and claiming a right to force 
their notions on other folks." 

The three committee-men noAv drew back a few paces, and 
consulted together apart, for two or three minutes. While 
they were thus employed, I heard the sweet gentle voice of 
Mary Warren say at my elbojv — "Take their resolutions, Mr. 
Littlepage, and get rid of them. I dare say they are very silly, 



THE REDSKINS. 



439 



but you will get rid of them all tlie sooner, by receiving tlie 
paper." This was woman's advice, wliich is a little apt to err 
on the side of concession, when her apprehensions are aroused ; 
but I was spared the pain of not complying with it, by the 
altered tone of the trio, who now came up to the stile 
again, having apparently come to a final decision in the prem- 
ises, 

*'Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, junior," said Bunce in a 
solemn voice, and in a manner as precise as if he were making 
some legal tender that was of the last importance, and which 
requu-ed set phrases, "I now ask you, in a most respectful 
manner, if you will consent to receive this paper. It contains 
certain resolutions, passed with great unanimity by the people 
of Ravensnest, and which may be found to affect you. I am 
directed respectfully to ask you, if you will accept this copy of 
the said resolutions." 

I cut the rest of the speech short by receiving the proffered 
paper, and I thought all three of the worthy ambassadors looked 
disappointed at my having done so. This gave a new turn to 
my ideas, and had they now demanded their resolutions back 
again, they should not have had them, so long as the revolvers 
could do their duty. For a moment, I do believe Bunce was 
for trying the experiment. He and his companions would have 
been delighted to have it in their power to run up and down 
the country crying out that the aristocrat-landlord, young 
Littlepage, held the people in contempt, and had refused even 
to accept the resolutions they had deigned, in their majesty, to 
pass. As it was, however, I had sufiicieutly rebuked the pre- 
sumption of these pretenders to liberty, avoided all the conse- 
qucnccs of their clamor in that behalf, and had an opportunity 
to gratify a curiosity to know what the leaders of the meeting 
had been about, and to read their resolutions. I say, the lead- 
ers of the meeting, for it is very certain the meetings them- 
selves, on all suet occasions, have no more to do with the form- 
ing or entertaining the opinions that are thus expressed, tlian 
if they had been in Karatschatka the whole time. Folding 



440 THE REDSKINS. 

the paper, therefore, and putting it in my pocket, I bowed to 
the committee, saying, as I descended the stile on the other 
side of the fence — 

"It is well, gentlemen ; if the resolutions require any notice, 
they'll be sure to receive it. Public meetings held of a Sunday 
are so unusual in this part of the world, that this n^ay have 
interest with that small portion of the state which does not 
dwell at Ravensnest." 

I thought the committee was a little abashed ; but the stran- 
ger, or the travelling demagogue, caught at my w^ords, and 
answered as I walked away, in company with Patt and Mary 
Warren — 

"The better day, the better deed. The matter related to 
the Sabbath, and no time so suitable as the Sabbath to act 
on it." 

I will own I was dying with curiosity to read the resolutions, 
but dignity prevented any such thing until we had reached a 
spot where the path led through a copse, that concealed us 
from observation. Once under that cover, however, I eagerly 
drew out the paper, the two girls drawing near to listen, wath 
as lively an interest as that I felt myself in the result. 

"Here you may see at a glance," I cried, shaking open the 
folds of the paper, "the manner in which the people so often 
pass their resolutions ! All this writing has a very school-mas- 
ter air, and has been done with care and a deliberation, whereas 
there was certainly no opportunity to make a copy as fair as 
this of any thing out in the highw^ay where the meeting was 
actually held. This proves that matters had been cut and dried 
for the sovereign people, who, like other monarchs, are saved a 
great deal of trouble by their confidential servants." 

" I dare say," said Patt, "two or three men down at the 
village prepared every thing, and then brought their work up to 
the meeting to be read and approved, and to go forth as public 
sentiment." 

"If it were only honesty approved by even those who heard 
it read, it would be another matter ; but two-thirds of every 



THE REDSKINS. 441 

meeting are nothing but dough-faces, that are moulded to look 
whichever way the skilful manager may choose. But let us sec 
what these notable resolutions arc ; Ave may like them, possibly, 
after having read them." 

"It is so extraordinary to have a public meeting of a Sunday 
in this part of the world !" 

I now set about reading the contents of the paper, which, at 
a glance, I saw had been very carefully prepared for publica- 
tion, and no doubt would soon figure in some of the journals. 
Fortunately, this business has been so much overdone, and so 
many meetings are held that flatly contradict each other, though 
all represent public sentiment, fire is made so effectually to fight 
fire, that the whole procedure is falling into contempt, and the 
public is actually losing the great advantage which, under a 
more temperate use of its power, it might possess, by making 
known from time to time, as serious occasions offered, its true 
opinions and wishes. As things actually are, every man of in- 
telligence is fully aware that simulated public opinions are 
much the most noisy and active in the country, and he regards 
nothing of the sort of which he hears or reads, unless he 
happen to know something of the authority. It is the same 
with the newspaper press generally ; into such deep discredit 
has it fallen, that not only is its power to do evil much cur- 
tailed, but it has nearly lost all power to do good ; for, by 
indulging in licentiousness, and running into the habit of crying 
" wolf," nobody is disposed to believe, were the beast actually 
committing its ravages in the flocks of the nation. There are 
but two ways for a man to regain a position from which he has 
departed ; the one is by manfully retracing his steps, and the 
other is by making a circuit so complete that all who choose 
to watch him may see and understfmd all sides of him, and 
estimate him accordingly. The last is likely to be the career 
of deraagogueism and the press ; both of which have already 
gone so far as to render retreat next to impossible, and who 
can only regain any portion of public confidence by being satis- 
fied with completing their circuit, and falling in the rear of the 



442 THE KEDSKINS. 

nation, content to follow tliose whom it lias been their craving 
ambition to lead. 

" At a meeting of the citizens of Ravensnest," I began to 
read aloud, "spontaneously convened, June 22d, 1845, in the 
public highway, after attending divine service in the Episcopal 
meeting-house, according to the forms of the established denom- 
ination of England, on the church and state system, Onesi- 
phoras Hayden, Esquire, was called to the chair, and Pulaski 
Todd, Esquire, was appointed secretary. After a luminous 
and eloquent exposition of the objects of the meeting, and 
some most pungent strictures on aristocracy and the rights of 
man, from Demosthenes Hewlett and John Smith, Esquires, 
the following expression of public sentiment was sustained by 
an undivided unanimity : — Resolved, that a temperate expression 
of pubHc opinion is useful to the rights of freemen, and is one 
of the most precious privileges of freedom, as the last has been 
transmitted to us im a free country by our ancestoi's, who 
fought and bled for free and equal institutions on free and equal 
grounds. 

" Resolved, Tliat we prize this privilege, and shall ever 
watch over its exercise with vigilance, the price of liberty. 

" Resolved, That, as all men are equal in the eyes of the law, 
so are they much more so in the eyes of God. 

" Resolved, That meeting-houses are places constructed for 
the convenience of the people, and that nothing ought to be 
admitted into them that is opposed to public sentiment, or 
which can possibly offend it. 

^'■Resolved, That, in our judgment, the seat that is good 
enough for one man is good enough for another; that we 
know no difference in families and races, and that pews ought 
to be constructed on the principles of equality, as well as 
laws. 

" Resolved, That canopies are royal distinctions, and quite 
unsuited to republicans ; and most of all, to republican meeting- 
houses. 

" Resolved, That religion should be adapted to the institu- 



THE REDSKINS. 443 

tions of a country, and that a republican form of government is 
entitled to a republican form of religion ; and tliat we do not 
see tlie principles of freedom in privileged seats in the house 
of God." 

'* That resolution has been got up as a commentary on what 
has been circulated so much, of late, in the newspapers," cried 
Mary Warren, quickly ; "in which it has been advanced, as a 
recommendation of certain sects, that their dogmas and church- 
government are more in harmony with republicanism than cer- 
tain others, our own church included." 

" One would think," I answered, " if this conformity be a 
recommendation, that it would be the duty of men to make their 
institutions conform to the church, instead of the church's con- 
forming to the institutions," 

'* Yes ; but it is not the fashion to reason in this way, nowa- 
days. Prejudice is just as much appealed to in matters con- 
nected with religion, as with any thing else." 

'■'■Resolved,'''' I continued to read, "That in placing a canopy 
over his pew, in St. Andrew's meeting-house, Ravensnest, Gen- 
eral Cornelius Littlepage conformed to the spirit of a past age, 
rather than to the spirit of the present time, and that we regard 
its continuance there as an aristocratical assumption of a supe- 
riority that is opposed to the character of the government, offen- 
sive to liberty, and dangerous as an example." 

"Really that is too bad !" exclaimed Patt, vexed at heart, 
even while she laughed at the outrageous silliness of the resolu- 
tions, and all connected with them. " Dear, liberal-minded 
grandpapa, who fought and bled for that very liberty about 
which these people cant so much, and who was actively con- 
cerned in framing the very institutions that they do not under- 
stand, and are constantly violating, is accused of being false to 
what were notoriously his own principles!" 

" Never mind that, my dear ; there only remain three more 
roeolutions : let us hear them. * Resolved, That we see an 
obvious connection between crowned heads, patents of nobility, 
canopied pews, personal distinctions, leasehold tenures, land- 



444 THE REDSKINS. 

Lords, days' worlcs, fat fowls, quarter-sales, three-lives leases, 
and Rent." 

" Resolved, That we arc of opinion that, when the owneis 
of barns wish them destroyed, for any purpose whatever, there 
is a mode less alarming to a neighborhood than by setting them 
on fire, and thus giving rise to a thousand reports and accusa- 
tions that are wanting in the great merit of truth. 

" Resolved, That a fair draft be made of these resolutions, 
and a copy of them delivered to one Hugh Roger Littlepage, a 
citizen of Ravensnest, in the county of Washington ; and that 
Peter Bunce, Esq., John Mowatt, Esq., and Hezekiah Trott, 
Esq., be a committee to see that this act be performed. 

*' Whereupon the meeting adjourned, sine die. Onesiphorus 
Hayden, chairman ; Pulaski Todd, secretary." 

" Wlie-e-e-w !" I whistled, "here's gunpowder enough for 
another Waterloo !" 

"What means that last resolution, Mr. Littlepage?" asked 
Mary Warren, anxiously. " That about the barn." 

" Sure enough ; there is a latent meaning there which has its 
sting. Can the scoundrels intend to insinuate that / caused 
that barn to be set on fire !" 

" If they should, it is scarcely more tlian they have attempted 
to do with every landlord they have endeavored to rob," said 
Patt, with spirit. " Calumny seems a natural weapon of those 
who get their power by appealing to numbers." 

"That is natural enough, my dear sister; since prejudice and 
passion are quite as active agents as reasons and facts, in the 
common mind. But this is a slander that shall be looked to. 
If I find that these men really wish to circulate a report that I 
caused my own barn to be set on fire — pshaw ! nonsense, after 
all ; have we not Newcome, and that other rascal in confine- 
ment, at this moment, for attempting to set fire to my house .?" 

" Be not too confident, Mr. Littlepage," said Mary, with an 
anxiety so pointed that I could not but feel its flattery — "my 
dear father tells me he has lost most of his confidence in inno- 
cence, except as One above all weaknesses shall be the judge : 



THE REDSKINS. 445 

this very story may be got up expressly to throw distrust on 
your accusations against the two incendiaries you have taken in 
the act. Remember how much of the facts will depend on 
your own testimony." 

" I shall have you to sustain me, Miss Warren, and the juror 
is not living, who would hesitate to believe that to which you 
will testify. But hiere we are approaching the house ; we will 
talk no more on the subject, lest it distress my grandmother." 

We found all quiet at the Nest, no report of any sort having 
come from the red-men. Sunday was like any other day to 
them, with the exception that they so far deferred to our habits, 
as to respect it, to a certain extent, while in our presence. 
Some writers have imagined that the aborigines of America are 
of the lost tribes of Israel ; but it seems to me that such a peo- 
ple could never have existed apart, uninfluenced by foreign 
association, and preserved no tradition, no memorial of the 
Jewish Sabbath. Let this be as it may, John, who met us at 
the door, which we reached just after my uncle and grand- 
mother, reported all quiet, so far as he knew any thing of the 
state of the farm-buildings. 

"They got enough last night, I'se thinking, Mr. Hugh, and 
has found out by this time, that it's better to light a fire in one 
of their own cook-stoves, than come to light it on the floor of a 
gentleman's kitchen. I never heard it said, sir, that the Hamer- 
icans was as much Hirish as they be Henglish, but to me they 
seems to grow every day more like the wild Hirishers, of whom 
we used to hear so much in Lun'un. Your honored father, sir, 
would never have believed that his own dwelling would be 
entered, at night, by men who are his very neighboi's, and who 
act like burglariouses, as if they were so many Newgate birda 
— no. Why Mr. Hugh, this 'Squire Newcome, as they cali 
him, is an hattorney, and has often dined here at the Nest. 
I have 'anded hira his soup, and fish, and wine, fifty times, 
just as if he was a gentleman, and to his sister, Miss Hoppor- 
tunity, too ; and they to come to set fire to the house, at mid- 
night!" 



446 THE REDSKINS. 

"You do Miss Opportunity injustice, John; for she has not 
had the least connection with the matter." 

" Well, sir, nobody knows any thing, nowaday — I declare, 
my eyes be getting weak, or there is the young lady, at this 
very instant !" 

"Young lady! where? — you do not mean Opportunity, 
Newcome, surely." 

"I does though, sir, and it's she, sure enough. If that isn't 
Miss Hopportunity, the prisoner that the savages has got up in 
the cellar of the old farm-house, isn't her brother." 

John was quite right; there was Opportunity standing in 
the very path, and at the very spot where I had last seen her 
disappear from my sight, the past night. That spot was just 
where the path plunged into the wooded ravine, and so far was 
her person concealed by the descent, that we could only per- 
ceive the head, and the upper part of the body. The girl had 
shown herself just that much, in order to attract my attention, 
in which she had no sooner succeeded, than, by moving down- 
ward a few paces, she was entirely hid from sight. Cautioning 
John to say nothing of what had passed, I sprang down the 
steps, and walked in the direction of the ravine, perfectly satis- 
fied I was expected, and far from certain that this visit did not 
portend further evil. 

The distance was so short that I was soon at the verge of the 
ravine, but when I reached it Opportunity had disappeared. 
Owing to the thicket, her concealment was easily obtained, 
while she might be within a few yards from me, and I plunged 
downward, bent only on ascertaining her object. One gleam 
of distrust shot across my mind, I will own, as I strided down 
the declivity ; but it was soon lost in the expectation and 
curiosity that were awakened by the appearance of the girl. 

I believe it has already been explained, that in this part of 
the lawn a deep, narrow ravine had been left in wood, and that 
the bridle-path that leads to the hamlet had been carried direct- 
ly through it, for effect. This patch of wood may be three or 
four acres in extent, following the course of the ravine until it 



THE REDSKINS. 447 

reaches tlie meadows, and it contains three or four rustic scats, 
intended to be used in the -warmer months. As Opportunity 
was accustomed to all the windings and turnings of the place, 
she had posted herself near one of these seats, which stood in a 
dense thicket, but so near the main path as to enable her to let mo 
toow where she was to be found, by a low utterance of my name, 
as my tread announced my approach. Springing up the by-path, 
I was at her side in an instant. I do believe that, now she had so 
far succeeded, the girl sunk upon the seat from inability to stand. 

" Oh ! Mr. Hugh !" she exclaimed, looking at me with a de- 
gree of nature and concern in her countenance that it was not 
usual to see there — " Sen^ — my poor brother Sen — what have I 
done ? — what have I done ?" 

"Will you answer me one or two questions, Miss Opportuni- 
ty, with frankness, under the pledge that the replies never shall 
be used to injure you or yours ? This is a very serious affair, 
and should be treated with perfect frankness." 

" I will answer any thing to you — any question you can put 
me, though I might blush to do so — but" laying her hand fa- 
miliarly, not to say tenderly on my arm — " why should we bo 
Mr. Hugh and Miss Opportunity to each other, when we wero 
so long Hugh and Op ? Call me Op again, and I shall feel that 
the credit of my family and the happiness of poor Sen arc, after 
all, in the keeping of a true friend." 

" No one can be more willing to do this than myself, my dear 
Op, and I am willing to be Hugh again. But, you know all 
that has passed." 

" I do — ^ycs, the dreadful news has reached us, and mother 
wouldn't leave me a moment's peace till I stole out again to see 
you." 

"Again ? Was your mother, then, acquainted with the visit 
of last night ?" 

"Yes, yes — sho knew it all, and advised it all." 

" Your mother is a most thoughtful and prudent parent," I 
answered, biting my lip, " and I shall know hereafter how 
much I am indebted to her. To you, Opportunity, I owe the 



448 THE REDSKINS. 

preservation of my house, and possibly the lives of all who are 
most dear to me." 

"Well, that's something, any how. There's no grief that 
hasn't its relief. But, you must know, Hugh, that I never 
could or did suppose that Sen himself would be so weak as to 
come in his own person on such an errand ! I didn't want tell- 
ing to understand that, in anti-rent times, fire and sword are the 
law — but, take him in general. Sen is altogether prudent and 
cautious. I'd a bit my tongue off before I'd a got my own 
brother into so cruel a scrape. No, no — don't think so ill of me 
as to suppose I came to tell of Sen." 

" It is enough for me that T know how much trouble you took 
to warn me of danger. It is unnecessary for me to think of you 
in any other light than that of a friend." 

"Ah, Hugh ! how happy and merry we all of us used to be 
a few years since ! That was before your Miss Coldbrookes, 
and INliss Marstons, and Mary Warrens ever saw the country. 
Tlun we did enjoy ourselves, and I hope such times will return. 
If Miss Martha would only stick to old friends, instead of run- 
ning after new ones, Ravensnest would be Ravensnest again." 

"You are not to censuremy sisterfor lovingher own closest asso- 
ciates best. She is several years our junior, you will remember, 
and was scarcely of an age to be our companion six years ago." 

Opportunity had the grace to color a little, for she had only 
used Patt as a cloak to make her assaults on me, and she knew 
as well as I did that my sister was good seven years younger 
than herself. This feeling, however, was but momentary, and 
she next turned to the real object of this visit. 

" What am I to tell mother, Hugh ? You will let Sen off, I 
know ?" 

I reflected, for the first time, on the hardships of the case ; 
but felt a strong reluctance to allow incendiaries to escape. 

" The facts must be known, soon, all over the town," I re- 
marked. 

" No fear of that ; they are pretty much known, already 
News does ^y fast, at Ravensnest, all must admit." 



THE REDSKINS. 449 

"Aye, if it would only fly true. But, your brotlier can hard- 
ly remain here, after such an occurrence." 

*' Lord ! How you talk ! If the law will only let him 
alone, who'd trouble him for this? You haven't been home 
long enough, to learn that folks don't think half as much of 
setting fire to a house, in anti-rent times, as they'd think of a 
trespass, under the old-fashioned law. Anti-rent alters the 
whole spirit." 

How true was this ! And we have lads among us, who have 
passed from their tenth to their eighteenth and twentieth years, 
in a condition of society that is almost hopelessly abandoned to 
the most corrupting influence of all the temptations that beset 
human beings. It is not surprising that men begin to regard 
arson as a venial oftence, when the moral feeling of the com- 
munity is thus unhinged, and boys are suffered to grow into 
manhood, in the midst of notions so fatal to every thing that is 
just and safe. 

" But the law itself will not be quite as complaisant as the 
' folks.' It will scarcely allow incendiaries to escape ; and your 
brother would be compelled to flee the land." 

" What of that ? How many go off", and stay off" for a time ; 
and that's better than going up north to work at the new prison. 
I'm not a bit afraid of Sen's being hanged, for these an't hang- 
ing times, in this country ; but it is some disgrace to a family 
to have a member in the state's prison. As for any punish- 
ment that is lasting, you can sec how it is, as well as I. 
Therc've been men murdered about anti-rentism, but. Lord ! 
the senators and assemblymen will raise such a rumpus, if you 
go to punish them, that it won't be long, if things go on as they 
ha\c, before it will be thought more honorable to be put in jail 
for shooting a peace-officer, than to stay out of it, for not having 
done it. Talk's all ; and if folks have a mind to make any 
thing honorable, they've only to say so often enough, to make 
it out." 

Such were the notions of Miss Opportunity Newcome, ou 
the subject of modern morals, and how far was she from the 



450 THE REDSKINS, 

truth ? I could not but smile at the manner in wliicli she treat- 
ed things, though there was ahomely and practical common sense 
in her way of thinking, that was probably of more efficiency 
than would have been the case with a more refined and nicer 
code. She looked at things as they are, and that is always 
something toward success. 

As for myself, I was well enough disposed to consider Op- 
portunity, in this unfortunate affair of the fire, for it would 
have been a cruel thing to suffer the girl to imagine she had 
been an instrument in destroying her brother. It is true, there 
is no great danger of a rogue's being hanged, nowadays, and 
Seneca was not sufficiently a gentleman, though very tenacious 
of the title, to endanger his neck. Had he been a landlord, 
and caught lighting a fire on the kitchen-floor of one of the 
tenants, the state would not grow hemp enough for his execu- 
tion ; but it was a very different thing to catch a tenant at that 
Avork. I could not but ask myself, how many of the "honora- 
ble gentlemen" at Albany Avould interfere in viy behalf, had 
jnatters been reversed ; for this is the true'mode of arriving at 
the " spirit of the institutions ;" or, rather, I have just as good 
a right to affirm such is their "spirit," as any one has to assert 
that the leasehold tenure is opposed to them ; the laws and in- 
stitutions themselves being equally antagonist to both. 
■ The results of the interview I had with Opportunity were, 
firstly — I kept my heart just where it was at its commence- 
ment, though I am not certain that it was in my own custody ; 
secondly — the young lady left me much encouraged on the 
subject of the credit of the Newcomes, though I took very good 
care not to put myself in her power, by promising to compro- 
mise felony ; thirdly — I invited the sister to come openly to 
the Nest, that evening, as one of the means to be employed 
in attaining her ends — as respects Seneca, be it remembered, 
not as respects me; and lastly, Ave parted just as good friends 
as we ever had been, and entertaining exactly the same views 
as regards each other. What those vicAvs Avere, it may not be 
modest in me to record. 



THE REDSKINS. 451 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

" If men desire the riglits of property, they must take their consequences; distinc 
lion In social classes. Without the rights of property civilization can hardly exist; 
while the highest class of improvements Is probably the result of the very social dis- 
tinctions that so many decry. The great political problem to bo solved, is to ascertain 
if the social distinctions that are inseparable from civilization can really exist with per- 
fect equality In political rights. We are of opinion they can ; and as much condemn 
him who vainly contends for a visionary and impracticable social equality, as we do 
him who would deny to men equal opportunities for advancement." 

Political Essay. 

My interview with Opportunity Nowcome remained a secret 
between those who first knew of it. Tnc evening service in St. 
Andrew's was attended only by the usual congregation, all the 
curiosity of the multitude seeming to have been allayed by the 
visit in the morning. The remainder of the day passed as usual, 
and after enjoying a pleasant eventide, and the earlier hours 
of the night in the company of the girls, I retired early to bed, 
and slept profoundly until morning. My uncle Ro partook of 
my own philosophical temper, and we encouraged each other 
in it by a short conversation that occurred in his room before 
we respectively retired to rest. 

" I agree with you, Hugh," said my uncle, in reply to a re- 
mark of my own ; " there is little use in making ourselves 
imhappy about evils that we cannot help. If wc are to be burnt 
up and stripped of our property, wc shall be burnt up and 
stripped of our property. I have a competency secured in 
Europe, and we can all live on that^ with economy, should the 
worst come to the worst." 

" It is a strange thing, to hear an American talk of seeking 
a refuge of any sort in the old world !" 

*' If matters proceed in the lively manner they have for the 
last ten years, you'll hear of it often. Hitherto, the rich of 



452 THE REDSKINS. 

Europe have been in the habit of laying by a penny in America 
against an evil day, but the time will soon come, unless there is 
a great change, when the rich of America will return the com- 
pliment in kind. We are worse off than if we were in a state 
of nature, in many respects ; having our hands tied by the re- 
sponsibility that belongs to our position and means, while those 
Avho choose to assail us are under a mere nominal restraint. 
They make the magistrates, Avho are altogether in their interests ; 
and they elect the sheriffs who are to see the laws executed. 
The theory is, that the people are suflBciently virtuous to per- 
form all these duties well ; but no provision has been made for 
the case in which the people themselves happen to go astray, 
en masse. '''' 

"We have our governors and masters at Albany, sir." 

"Yes, we have our governors and servants at Albany, and 
there they are ! There has not been the time, probably, since 
this infernal spirit first had its rise among us, that a clear, manly, 
energetic, and well-principled proclamation, alone, issued by 
the governor of this state, would not have aroused all the better 
feelings of the community, and put this thing down ; but, small 
as would have been that tribute to the right, it has never been 
paid, and, until we drop double-distilled patriots, and have 
recourse again to the old-fashioned, high-principled gentlemen 
for offices of mark, it never will be done. Heaven preserve me 
from extra-virtuous, patriotic, and enlightened citizens; no 
good ever comes of them." 

"I believe the wisest way, sir, is to make up our minds that 
we have reached the point of reaction in the institutions, and 
be ready to submit to the worst. I keep the ' revolver' well 
primed, and hope to escape being burnt up at least." 

After a little more such discourse, we parted and sought our 
pillows, and I can say that I never slept more soundly in my 
life. If I did lose my estate, it was what other men had suffered 
and survived, and why might not I as well as another ? It is 
true, those other men were, in the main, the victims of what 
are called tyrants ; but others, again, had certainly been wronged 



THE REDSKINS. 453 

by the masses. Thousands have been impoverished in France, 
for instance, by the political confiscations of the multitude, and 
thousands enriched by ill-gotten gains, profiting by the calam 
ities of those around them ; and what has happened there might 
happen here. Big words ought to pass for nothing. No man 
was ever a whit more free because he was the whole time boast- 
ing of his liberty, and I was not now to learn that when num- 
bers did inflict a wrong, it was always of the most intolerable 
character. Ordinarily, they were not much disposed to this 
species of crime ; but men in masses were no more infallible 
than individuals. In this philosophic mood, I slept. 

I was awoke next morning by John's appearing at my bed- 
side, after having opened the shutter of my windows. 

"I declare to you, Mr. Hugh," began this Avell-meaning, but 
sometimes ofiicious servant, " I don't know what will come 
next at Ravensnest, now the evil spirit has got uppermost among 
the inhabitants !" 

" Tut, tut, John — what you call the evil spirit is only the 
' spirit of the institutions ;' and is to be honored, instead of 
disliked." 

" Well, sir, I don't know what they calls it, for they talks so 
much about the hinstitutions in this country, I never can find 
out what they would be at. There was a hinstitution near 
where I lived in my last place, at the West End, in Lun'on, 
and there they taught young masters to speak and write Latin 
and Greek. But hinstitutions in Ilamerica must mean some- 
thing, for them as doesn't know any more Latin than I do 
seems to be quite hintimate with these Ilamerican hinstitutions. 
But, Mr. Hugh, would you, could you, believe the people com- 
mitted parricide last night?" 

" I am not at all surprised at it, for, to me, they have seemed 
to be bent on matricide for some time, calling the country their 
mother." 

" It's hawful, sir — it's truly hawful, when a whole people com- 
mits such a crime as parricide ! I know'd you would be shocked 
to hear it, Mr. Hugh, and so I just came in to let you know it." 



454 THE REDSKINS. 

" I am infinitely obliged to you for this attention, my 
good fellow, and shall be still more so when you tell me all 
about it." 

" Yes, sir, most willingly, and most unwillingly, too. But 
there's no use in 'iding the fact ; it's gone, Mr. Hugh 1" 

" What is gone, John ? Speak out, my good fellow ; I (an 
bear it." 

" The pew, sir — or, rather that beautiful canopy that covered 
it, and made it look so much like the lord mayor's seat in Guild- 
hall. I 'ave hadmired and honored that canopy, sir, as the most 
helegant hobject in this country, sir." 

" So they have destroyed it at last, have they? Encouraged 
ard sustained by an expression of public sentiment, as proclaim- 
ed in a meeting that had a chairman and secretary, they have 
actually cut it down, I suppose ?" 

" They have, sir; and a pretty job they've made of it. There 
it stands, up at Miller's, hover his pig-pen !" 

This was not a very heroic termination of the career of the 
obnoxious canopy ; but it was one that made me laugh heartily. 
Jchn was a little offended at this levity, and he soon left me to 
finish my toilet by myself. I dare say, many of the honest 
folk of Ravensnest would have been as much surprised as John 
himself, at the indifference I manifested at the fate of this 
dignified pew. But, certainly, so far as my own social eleva- 
tion, or social depression, was concerned, I cared nothing 
about it. It left me just where I was — neither greater nor 
otherwise ; and as for any monuments to let the world know 
who my predecessors had been, or who I was at that moment, 
the country itself, or the part of it in which we dwelt, was suffi- 
cient. Its history must be forgotten, or changed, before our 
position could be mistaken ; though I dare say the time will 
come when some extremely sublimated friend of equahty will 
wish to extinguish all the lights of the past, in order that there 
may not exist that very offensive distinction of one man's name 
being illustrated, while another man's name is not. The pride 
of family is justly deemed the most offensive of all pride, since 



THE REDSKINS. 455 

a man may value himself on a possession to whicli he has not 
the smallest claim in the way of personal merit, while those of 
the highest personal claims are altogether deprived of an ad- 
vantage, to the enjoyment of which ancestors alone have created 
the right. Now, the institutions, both in their letter and their 
spirit, do favor justice in this particular, as far as they can ; 
though even they are obliged to sustain one of the most potent 
agents to such distinctions, by declaring, through the laws, that 
the child shall succeed to the estate of the father. When we 
shall get every thing straight, and as it ought to be, in this pro- 
gressive country, heaven only knows ; for I find my tenants 
laying stress on the fact that their fathers have leased my lands 
for generations, Avhile they are quite willing to forget that my 
fathers were the lessors all the while. 

I found all four of the girls on the piazza, breathing the air 
of as balm)' a summer morning as a bountiful nature ever be- 
stowed. They had heard of the fate of the canopy, which 
affected them differently, and somewhat according to tempera- 
ment. Henrietta Coldbrooke laughed at it violently, and in a 
way I did not like ; your laughing young lady rarely having 
much beyond merriment in her. I make all allowance for 
youthful spirits, and a natural disposition to turn things into 
fun ; but it was too much to laugh at this exploit of the anti- 
renters, for quite half an hour together I liked Anne Marston's 
manner of regarding it better. She smiled a good deal, and 
laughed just enough to show that she was not insensible to the 
effect of an absurdity ; and then she looked as if she felt that a 
wrong had been done. As for Patt, she was quite indignant at 
the insult ; nor was she very backward in letting her opinions 
be known. But Mary Warren's manner of viewing the affair 
pleased me best, as indeed was fast getting to be the fact with 
most of her notions and conceits. She manifested neither levi- 
ty nor resentment. Once or twice, when a droll remark es- 
caped Henrietta, she laughed a little ; a very little, and involun- 
tarily, as it might be — just enough to prove that there was fun 
in her — when she would make some sensible observation, to the 



456 THEREDSKINS. 

eiFect that the evil temper that was up in the countn' was tlio 
true part of the transaction that deserved attention ; and that 
she felt this as well as saw it. Nobody seemed to care for the 
canopy — not even my excellent grandmother, in whose youth 
the church had been built, when distinctions of this sort were 
more in accordance with the temper and habits of the times, 
than they are to-day. I had been on the piazza just long 
enough to note this difference in the manner of the girls, when 
my grandmother joined us. 

" Oh ! grandmother, have you heard what those wretches of 
' Injins,' as they are rightly named, have been doing with the 
canopy of the pew ?" cried Patt, who had been at the bed- 
side of our venerable parent, and kissed her an hour before ; 
" they have torn it down, and placed it over the pen of the 
pigs!" 

A common laugh, in which Patt herself now joined, inter- 
rupted the answer for a moment, old Mrs. Littlepage hereelf, 
manifesting a slight disposition to make one of the amused. 

"I have heard it all, my dear," returned my grandmother, 
" and, on the whole, think the thing is well enough gotten rid 
of. I do not believe it would have done for Hugh to have had 
it taken down, under a menace, while it is perhaps better that 
it should no longer stand." 

" Were such things common, in your youth, Mrs. Littlepage?" 
asked Mary Warren. 

" Far from uncommon ; though less so iu country than in 
town churches. You will remember that we were but recently 
separated from England, when St. Andrew's was built, and that 
most of the old colonial ideas prevailed among us. People, in 
that day, had very different notions of social station, from those 
which now exist ; and New York was, in a certain sense, one 
of the most, perhaps the most aristocratical colony in the coun- 
try. It was somewhat so under the Dutch, republicans as they 
were, with its patroons ; but when the colony was transferred 
to the English, it became a royal colony at once, and English 
notions were introduced as a matter of course. In no other 



THE REDSKINS. 457 

colony were there as many manors, perliaps ; tlic slavery of the 
south introducing quite a different system there, while the poli- 
cy of Pcnn and of New England, generally, was more demo- 
cratic. I apprehend, Roger, that we owe this anti-rent struggle, 
and particularly the feebleness with which it is resisted, to the 
difference of opinion that prevails among the people of New 
England, who have sent so many immigrants among us, and 
our own purely New York notions." 

"You are quite right, my dear mother," answered my uncle, 
" though New Yorkers, by descent, are not wanting among the 
tenants, to sustain the innovation. The last act either from 
direct cupidity, or to gain popularity with a set, whereas, as I 
view the matter, the first are influenced by the notions of the 
state of society from which either they themselves, or their 
parents, were directly derived. A very large proportion of the 
present population of New York is of New England origin. 
Perhaps one-third have this extraction, either as born there, or 
as the sons or grandsons of those who were. Now, in New 
England generally, great equality of condition exists, more 
especially when you rise above the lower classes ; there being 
very few, out of the large trading towns, who would be deemed 
rich in New York, and scarcely such a thing as a large land- 
holder, at all. The relation of landlord and tenant, as con- 
nected with what we should term estates, is virtually unknown 
to New England ; though Maine may afford some exceptions. 
This circumstance is owing to the peculiar origin of the people, 
and to the fact that emigration has so long carried off the sur- 
plus population ; the bulk of those who remain being able to 
possess freeholds. There is a natural antipathy in men who 
have been educated in such a state of society, to any thing that 
seems to place others in positions they do not, and cannot 
occupy themselves. Now, while the population of New York 
may be one-third, perhaps, of New England descent, and con- 
sequently more or less of New England notions, a much larger 
proportion of the lawyers, editors of newspapers, physicians, 
and active politicians, arc of that -clas?;. We think little, and 
20 



458 THE K ED SKINS, 

talk little of these circurastaBces ; for no nation inquires into 
its moral influences, and wliat I may call its political statistics, 
less than the Americans; but they produce large consequences." 

" Am I to understand you, sir, to say that anti-rentism is of 
New England origin ?" 

" Perhaps not. Its origin was probably more directly derived 
from the devil, who has tempted the tenants as he is known 
once to have tempted the Saviour. The outbreak was originally 
among the descendants of the Dutch, for they happened to be 
the tenants, and, as for the theories that have been broached, 
they savor more of the reaction of European abuses, than of 
any thing American at all ; and least of all of any thing from 
New England, where there is generally a great respect for the 
rights of property, and unusual reverence for the law. Still, I 
think we owe our greatest danger to the opinions and habits of 
those of New England descent among us." 

" This seems a little paradoxical, uncle Ro, and I confess I 
should like to hear it explained." 

" I will endeavor so to do, and in as few words as possible. 
The real danger is among those who influence legislation. Now, 
you will find hundreds of men among us, who feel the vast im- 
portance of respecting contracts, who perceive much of the 
danger of anti-rcntism, and who wish to see it defeated in its 
violent and most offensive forms, but who lean against the great 
landlords, on account of those secret jealousies which cause 
most men to dislike advantages in which they do not share, and 
who would gladly enough see all leases abolished, if it could be 
done without a too violent conflict with justice. When you 
talk with these men, they will make you the common-place but 
immeaning profession of wishing to see every husbandman the 
owner in fee of his farm, instead of a tenant, and that it is a 
hardship to pay rent, and quantities of such twaddle. Henry 
the Fourth, in a much better spirit, is said to have wished that 
each of his subjects had '■'■unepouU dans son p6t," but that 
wish did not put it there. So it is with this idle profession of 
wishing to see every American husbandman a freeholder. We all 



THE REDSKINS. 459 

know sucli a state of society never did exist, and probably never 
will; and it is merely placing a vapid pretension to philan- 
thropy in the foreground of a picture that should rigidly repre- 
sent things as they are. For my part, I am one of those who 
do not believe that this or any other country would be any the 
better for dispensing with landlords and tenants." 

"Mr. Littlepage!" exclaimed Mary Warren, "you surely do 
not mean that competency widely diffused, is not better than 
wealth in a few hands, and poverty in a great many !" 

" No, I shall not go as far as that ; but, I do say that what 
this country most wants just now, is precisely the class that is 
connected with the independence of character and station, the 
leisure, with its attendant cultivation and refinement, and the 
principles as well as taste that are connected with all." 

" Principles ! Mr. Littlepage !" added my uncle's sweet inter- 
locutor ; " my father would hardly uphold that, though he 
agrees with you in so much of what you say." 

" I do not know that. I repeat the word principles; for 
when you have a class of men who are removed from a large 
range of temptations, without being placed above public opin- 
ion, you get precisely those who are most likely to uphold 
that sort of secondary, but highly useful morals which are not 
directly derived from purel3'' religious duties. Against the last 
I shall not say one word, as it comes from the grace, which is 
of the power of God, and is happily as accessible to the poor as 
to the rich, and more too ; but, of men as they are, not one in 
a hundred regulates his life by a standard created under such 
impulses ; and even when they do, the standard itself is, in some 
degree, qualified by the ordinary notions, I apprehend. The 
Christian morality of an East Indian is not identical with that 
of a Puritan, or that of a man of highly cultivated mind with 
that of one who has enjoyed fewer advantages. There is one 
class of principles, embracing all those that are adverse to the 
littlenesses of daily practice, which is much the more extended 
among the liberal-minded and educated, and it is to that set of 
principles I refer. Now we want a due proportion of that class 



460 THE REDSKINS. 

of men, as our society is getting to be organized ; of tliosc who 
are superior to meannesses," 

" All tliis would be deemed atrociously aristocratic, were it 
^old in Gath!" exclaimed Patt, laughing. 

"It is atrociously common sense, notwithstanding," answcrec 
my uncle, who was not to be laughed out of any thing he felt 
to be true; " and the facts will show it. Ncav England early 
established a system of common schools, and no part of the 
world, perhaps, has a population that is better grounded in 
intelligence. This has been the case so long as to put the peo- 
ple of Connecticut and Massachusetts, for instance, as a whole, 
materially in advance of the people of any other state, New 
York included ; although, by taking the system from our east- 
ern brethren, we are now doing pretty well. Notwithstand- 
ing, who will say that New England is as far advanced, in many 
material things, as the middle states. To begin with the kitchen 
— her best cookery is much below that of even the humbler 
classes of the true middle states' families : take her language 
for another test, it is provincial and vulgar ; and there is no 
exaggeration in saying that the laboring classes of the middle 
states, if not of New England origin, use better English than 
thousands of educated men in New England itself. Both of 
these peculiarities, as I conceive, come from the fact that in 
one part of the country there has been a class to give a tone 
that does not exist in the other. The gentlemen of the larger 
towns in the east have an influence where they live, no doubt ; 
but in the interior, as no one leads, all these matters are left to 
the common mind to get along with, as well as it can." 

" Aristocratic, sir — rank aristocracy !" 

"If it be, has aristocracy, as you call it, which in this in- 
stance must only mean decided social position, no advantages ? 
Is not even a wealthy idler of some use in a nation ? He con- 
tributes his full share to the higher civilization that is connected 
with the tastes and refinements, and, in fact, he forms it. In 
Europe they will tell you that a court is necessary to such 
civilization; but facts contradict the theory. Social classes, no 



THE REDSKINS. 4G1 

doubt, are ; but tlicy can exist independently of courts, as tliey 
can, have, do, and ever will in the face of democracy. Now, 
connect this class with the landed interest, and see how much 
your chances for material improvement are increased. Coke, 
of Norfolk, probably conferred more benefit on the husbandry 
of England than all the mere operatives that existed in his time. 
It is from such men, indeed, from their enterprise and their 
means, that nearly all the greater benefits come. The fine wool 
of America is mainly owing to Livingston's connection with 
land ; and if you drive such men out of existence, you must 
drive the benefits they confer with them. A body of intelli- 
gent, well-educated, liberalized landlords, scattered through 
New York, would have more eflect in advancing the highest 
interests of the community than all the * small potato' lawyers 
and governors you can name in a twelvemonth. What is more, 
this is just the state of society in which to reap all the benefits 
of such a class, without the evils of a real aristocracy. Tliey 
are and Avould be without any particular political power, and 
there is no danger of corn-laws and exclusive legislation for 
their benefit. Rich and poor we must have ; and let any fair- 
minded man say whether he wish a state of things in which the 
first shall have no inducement to take an extended interest in 
real estate, and the last no chance to become agriculturists, ex- 
cept as hired laborers ?" 

" You do not mince matters, uncle Ro," put in Patt, " and 
will never go to Congress." 

" That may be, my dear ; but I shall retain my own self- 
respect by fair dealing. What I say I mean, while many who 
take the other side do not. I say that, in a country like this, 
in which land is so abundant as to render the evils of a general 
monopoly impossible, a landed gentry is precisely what is most 
needed for the higher order of civilization, including manners, 
tastes, and the minor principles, and is the very class which, if 
reasonably maintained and properly regarded, would do the 
most good at the least risk of any social caste known. They 
have always existed in New York, though with a lessening 



462 THE REDSKINS. 

influence, and are tlie reason, in my judgment, why we are so 
mucli before New England in particular things, Avhile certainly 
behind that quarter of the countiy in many others that arc 
dependent on ordinary schooling." 

" I like to hear a person maintain his opinions frankly and 
manfully," said my grandmother; "and this have you done, 
Roger, from boyhood. My own family, on my father's side, 
was from New England, and I subscribe to a great deal that 
you say ; and particularly to the part that relates to the apathy 
of the public to this great wrong. It is now time, however, to 
go to the breakfast-table, as John has been bowing in the door, 
yonder, for the last minute or two." 

To breakfast we went ; and, notwithstanding incendiaries, 
anti-rentism, and canopies of pig-pens, a merry time we had of 
it. Henrietta Coldbrooke and Ann Marston never came out 
with more spirit, though in their several ways, than each did 
that morning. I believe I looked a little surprised, for I ob- 
served that my uncle stole occasional glances at me, that seemed 
to say — '* There, my fine fellow, Avhat do you think of that, 
now?" whenever either of his wards uttered any thing that he 
fancied cleverer than common. 

"Have you heard, ma'am," asked my uncle Ro of my grand- 
mother, "that we are to have old Sus and Jaaf here at the 
Nest, shortly, and both in grand costume ? It seems the red- 
men are about to depart, and there is to be smoking of pipes, 
and a great council, which the Trackless fancies will be more 
dignified if held in front of the house of hjs pale-face friends, 
than if held at his own hut." 

" How did you ascertain that, Roger !" 

" I have been at the wigwam, this morning, and have the 
fact directly from the Onondago, as well as from the interpre- 
ter, whom I met there. By the way, Hugh, we must shortly 
decide what is to be done with the prisoners, or we shall have 
writs of habeas corpus served on us, to know why we detain 
them." 

"Is it possible, uncle Ro," for so his Avards called him habit- 



THE REDSKIN'S. i'60 

aally — ** to rescue a gentleman from tlie gallows by marrying 
him ?" asked Henrietta Coldbrooke, demurely. 

"That is so strange a question, that as a guardian I feel cu- 
rious to hear its meaning." 

" Tell — tell at once, Henrietta" — said the other ward, urging 
her companion to speak '* I will save your blushes, and act 
as your interpreter. Miss Coldbrooke was honored by Mr. 
Seneca Newcome with this letter, within the last twenty-four 
hours ; and, it being a family matter, I think it ought to be 
referred to a family council," 

" Nay, Anne," said the blushing Henrietta, " this is hardly 
fair — nor am I sure that it would be quite lady-like in me to 
suffer that letter to be generally known — ;7ja?*<^cffia?-/^ known to 
you, it certainly is, already." 

" Perhaps your reluctance to have it read docs not extend to 
Hie, Henrietta?" said my uncle. 

"Certainly not, sir; nor to my dear Mrs. Littlepage, nor to 
Martha — though I confess that I cannot see what interest Mr. 
Hugh can have in the subject. Here it is ; take it and read it 
when you please." 

My uncle was pleased to read it on the spot. As he pro- 
ceeded, a frown collected on his brow, and he bit his lip, like 
one provoked as well as vexed. Then he laughed, and threw 
the letter on the table, where no one presumed to molest it. 
As Henrietta Coldbrooke was blushing all this time, though 
she laughed and seemed provoked, our curiosity was so great 
and manifest, that my grandmother felt an inclination to in- 
terfere. 

'* May not that letter be read aloud, for the benefit of all ?" 
she asked. 

"There can be no particular reason for concealing it," an- 
swered uncle Ro, spitefully. " The more it is known, the more 
the fellow will be laughed at, as he deserves to be." 

" Will that be right, uncle Ro ?" exclaimed Miss Coldbrooke, 
hastily. " Will it be treating a gentleman as he " 

** Pshaw I — it will not be treating a gentleman, at all. The 



464 THE REDSKINS. 

fellow is, at this moment, a prisonci- for attempting to set an in- 
habited honse on fire, in the middle of the night." 

Henrietta said no more ; and my grandmother took the let- 
ter, and read it for the common benefit. I shall not copy the 
effusion of Seneca, which was more cunning than philosophical ; 
but it contained a strong profession of love, urged in a some- 
what business manner, and a generous offer of his hand to the 
lieireas of eight thousand a year. And this proposal was made 
only a day or two before the fellow was " taken in the act," and 
at the very time he was the most deeply engaged in his schemes 
of anti-rentism. 

" Tlicre is a class of men among us," said my uncle, after 
every body had laughed at this magnificent oftcr, " who do 
not seem to entertain a single idea of the proprieties. How is 
it possible, or where could the chap have been bred, to fancy 
for an instant that a young woman of foi"tune and station, 
would marry him, and that, too, almost without an acquaint- 
ance. I dare say Henrietta never spoke to him ten times in 
her life." 

" Not five, sir, and scarcely any thing was said at either of 
those five." 

" And you answered the letter, my dear ?" asked my gi-and 
mother. " An ansiver ought not to have been forgotten , 
though it might have properly come, in this case, from your 
guardian." 

" I answered it myself, ma'am, not wishing to be laughed at 
for my part of the affair. I declined the honor of Mr. Seneca 
Newcome's hand." 

"Well, if the truth mmt be said," put in Patt, dryly, "/did 
the same thing, only three weeks since." 

" And I so lately as last week," added Anne Marston, de- 
murely. 

I do not know that I ever saw my uncle Ro so strangely 
aftccted. While every body around him was laughing heartily, 
he looked grave, not to say fierce. Then he turned suddenly 
to mc, and said — 



THE REDSKINS. 465 

" Wc must let him be hanged, Hugh. Were he to live a 
thousand years he would never learn the fitness of things." 

"You'll think better of this, sir, and become more merci- 
ful. The man has only nobly dared. But I confess a strong 
desire to ascertain if Miss Warren alone has escaped his as- 
saults." 

Mary — pretty Mary — she blushed scarlet, but shook her 
head, and refused to give any answer. Wc all saw that her 
feelings were not enlisted in the affair in any way ; but there 
was evidently something of a more serious nature connected 
wifli Seneca's addresses to her than in connection Avith his 
addresses to either of the others. As I have since ascertained, 
he really had a sort of aftection for Mary ; and I have been 
ready to pardon him the unprincipled and impudent manner in 
which he cast his flies toward the other fish, in consideration 
of his taste in this particular. But Mary herself would tell us 
nothing. 

" You are not to think so much of this, Mv. Littlepage," she 
cried, so soon as a little recovered from her confusion, " since it 
is only acting on the great anti-rent principle, after all. In the 
one case, it is only a wish to get good farms cheap — and in the 
other, good wives." 

"In the one case, other men's farms — and in the other, other 
men's wives." 

"Other men's wives, certainly, if wives at all," said Putt, 
pointedly " There is no Mr. Senehj Newcome there." 

" Wc must let the law have its way, and the fellow be 
hanged !" rejoined my uncle. " I could overlook the attempt 
to burn the Nest House, but I cannot overlook this. Fellows 
of this class get every thing dessus dcssous, and I do not won- 
der there is anti-rentism in the land. Such a matrimonial 
experiment could never have been attempted, as betv.'een such 
parties, in any region but one tainted with anti-rentism, or 
deluded by the devil." 

" An Irishman would have included my grandmother in his 
cast of the net; that's the only ditference, sir.'' 



466 THE REDSKINS. 

" Sure enough, why have you escaped, iny dearest mother ? 
Vou, who have a fair widow's portion, too." 

*' Because the suitor was not an Irishman, as Hugh intimated 
— I know no other reason, Hodge. But a person so devoted to 
the ladies must not suffer in the cruel way you speak of. The 
wretch must be permitted to get off." 

All the girls now joined with my grandmother in preferring 
this, to them, very natural petition ; and, for a few minutes, 
we heard of nothing but regrets, and solicitations that Seneca 
might not be given up to the law. " Tender mercies of the 
law" might not be an unapt w^ay to express the idea, as it is 
now almost certain that the bigger the rogue, the greater is the 
chance of escape. 

" All this is very w^ell, ladies ; mighty humane and feminine, 
and quite in character," answered my uncle ; "but, in the first 
place, there is such a thing as compounding felony, and its 
consequences are not altogether agreeable ; then, one is bound 
to consider the effect on society in general. Here is a fellow 
who first endeavors to raise a flame in the hearts of no less than 
four young ladies ; failing of which, he takes refuge in lighting 
a fire in Hugh's kitchen. Do you know, I am almost as much 
disposed to punish him for the first of these offences as for the 
last?" 

" There's a grand movement as is making among all the red- 
skins, ma'am," said John, standing in the door of the breakflist 
parlor, "and I didn't know but the ladies, and Mr. Littlepage, 
and Mr. Hugh, would like to see it. Old Sus is on his way 
here, followed by Yop, who comes grumbling along after him, 
as if he didn't like the amusement any way at all." 

" Have any arrangements been made for the proper reception 
of our guests this morning, Roger ?" 

"Yes, ma'am. At least, I gave orders to have benches 
brought and placed under the trees, and plenty of tobacco 
provided. Smoking is a great part of a council, I believe, 
and we shall be ready to commence at that as soon as they 
meet." 



THE KEn SKINS. 467 

**Ycs, sir, all is ready for 'em," resumed John. '^Miller 
has sent an 'orse cart to bring the benches, and we've pro- 
vided as much 'baccy as they can use. The servants 'opes, 
ma'am, they can have permission to witness the ceremony. 
It isn't often that civilized j^eople can get a sight at real sav- 
ages." 

My grandmother gave an assent, and there was a general 
movement, preparatory to going on the lawn to witness the 
parting interview between the Trackless and his visitors. 

" You have been very considerate. Miss Warren," I whis- 
pered Mary, as I helped her to put on her shawl, " in not 
betraying what I fancy is the most important of all Seneca's 
love secrets." 

" I confess these letters have surprised me," the dear girl said 
thoughtfully, and with a look that seemed perplexed. " No one 
w ould be apt to think very favorably of Mr. Newcome ; yet it 
was by no means necessary to complete his character, that one 
should think as ill as this." 

I said no more — but these few words, which appeared to 
escape Mary unconsciously and involuntarily, satisfied me that 
Seneca had been seriously endeavoring to obtain an interest in 
her heart notwithstanding her poverty. 



468 THE KEDSKINS. 



ClIx\PTEK XXVII. 

•' And Hmloriieath that fiice like snDiraor's ilrcam5, 
Its lips as moveJcss, and its cheek as clear, 
SUimbcrs a whirlwind of tlic heart's CDiotions, 
Love, hatred, pride, hope, sorrow — all save fear." 

IJalleck. 

The only singularity connected with the great age of the 
Indian and the negro, was the fact that they should have heen 
associates for near a century, and so long intimately united in 
adventures and friendship. I say friendship, for the term was 
not at all unsuited to the feeling that connected these old men 
together, though they had so httle in common, in the way of 
character. While the Indian possessed all the manly and high 
qualities of a warrior of the woods, of a chief, and of one who 
had never acknowledged a superior, the other was necessarily 
distinguished hy many of the wickednesses of a state of servi- 
tude ; the bitter consequences of a degraded caste. Fortunate- 
ly, both were temperate, by no means an every-day virtue 
among the red-men who dwelt with the whites, though much 
more so with the blacks. But Susquesus was born at Onon- 
dago, a tribe remarkable for its sobriety, and at no period of 
his long life Avould he taste any intoxicating drink, while Jaaf 
was essentially a sober man, though he had a thorough " nigger" 
reUsh for hard cider. There can be little doubt that these two 
aged memorials of past ages, and almost forgotten generations, 
owed their health and strength to their temperance, fortifying 
natural predispositions to tenacity of life. 

It was always thought Jaaf was a little the senior of the In- 
dian, though the difference in their ages could not be great. It 
is certain that the red-man retained much the most of his bodilv 



THE REDSKINS. 469 

powers, tliough, for fifty years, lie had taxed tliem tlic least. 
Susquesus never worked ; never would work in the ordinary 
meaning of the term. He deemed it to be beneath his dignity 
as a warrior, and, I have heard it said, that nothing but neces- 
sity could have induced him to plant, or hoe, even when in his 
prime. So long as the boundless forest furnished the deer, the 
moose, the beaver, the bear, and the other animals that it is 
usual for the red-man to convert into food, he had cared little 
for the fruits of the earth, beyond those that were found grow- 
ing in their native state. His hunts Avere the last regular occu- 
pation that the old man abandoned. He carried the rifle, and 
threaded the woods with considerable vigor after he had seen 
a hundred winters; but the game deserted him, under the 
never-dying process of clearing acre after acre, until little of 
the native forest was left, with the exception of the reservation 
of my own, already named, and the pieces of woodland that are 
almost invariably attached to every American farm, lending to 
the landscape a relief and beauty that are usually wanting to 
the views of older countries. It is this peculiarity which gives 
so many of the views of the republic, nay, it may be said to all 
of them, so much of the character of park- scenery when seen at 
a distance, that excludes the blemishes of a want of finish, and 
the coarser appliances of husbandry. 

With Jaaf, though he had imbibed a strong relish for the 
forest, and for forest-life, it was different in many respects. 
Accustomed to labor from childhood, he could not be kept from 
work, even by his extreme old age. He had the hoe, or the 
axe, or the spade in his hand daily, many years after he could 
wield either to any material advantage. The little he did in 
this way, now, was not done to kill thought, for he never had 
any to kill ; it was purely the efibct of habit, and of a craving 
desire to be Jaaf still, and to act his life over again. 

I am sorry to say that neither of these men had any essential 
knowledge, or any visible feeling for the truths of Christianity. 
A hundred years ago, little spiritual care was extended to the 
black, and the difficulty of making an impression, in this way, 



470 THE REDSKINS. 

on llic Indian, has become matter of history. Perhaps success 
best attends such efibrts when the pious missionary can pene- 
trate to the retired village, and disseminate his doctrines far 
from the miserable illustration of their effects, that is to bo 
hourly traced, by the most casual observer, amid the haunts of 
civilized men. That Christianity does produce a deep and 
benign influence on our social condition cannot be doubted ; 
but he who is only superficially acquainted with Christian na- 
tions, as they are called, and sets about tracing the effects of 
this influence, meets with so many proofs of a contrary nature, 
as to feel a strong disposition to doubt the truth of dogmas that 
seem so impotent. It is quite likely such was the case with 
Susquesus, who had passed all the earlier years of his exclusive 
association with the pale-faces, on the flanks of armies, or 
among hunters, surveyors, runners, and scouts ; situations that 
were not very likely to produce any high notions of moral cul- 
ture. Nevertheless, many earnest and long-continued efforts 
had been made to awaken in this aged Indian some notions of 
the future state of a pale-face, and to persuade him to be 
baptized. My grandmother, in particular, had kept this end 
in view for quite half a century, but with no success. The 
different clergy, of all denominations, had paid more or less 
attention to this Indian, with the same object, though no visi- 
ble results had followed their efforts. Among others, Mr. War- 
ren had not overlooked this part of his duty, but he had met 
with no more success than those who had been before him. 
Singular as it seemed to some, though I saw nothing strange 
in it, Mary "Warren had joined in this benevolent project with 
a gentle zeal, and affectionate and tender interest, that promised 
to achieve more than had been even hoped for these many 
years by her predecessors in the same kind office. Her visits 
to the h'at had been frequent, and I learned that morning from 
Patt, that, "though Mary herself never spoke on the subject, 
enough has been seen by others to leave no doubt that her gen- 
tle offices and prayers had, at last, touched, in some slight de- 
gree, the marble-like heart of the Trackless." 



THE REDSKINS. 471 

As for Jaaf, it is possible that it was his misfortune to be a 
slave in a family that belonged to the Episcopal Church, a sect 
that is so tempered and chastened in its religious rites, and so 
far removed from exaggeration, as often to seem cold to those 
who seek excitement, and fancy quiet and self-control incom- 
patible with a lively faith. " Your priests are unsuited to make 
converts among the people," said an enthusiastic clergyman of 
another denomination to me, quite lately. " They cannot go 
among the brambles and thorns without tearing their gowns and 
surplices." There may be a certain degree of truth in this, 
though the obstacle exists rather with the convert than with 
the missionary. The vulgar love coarse excitement, and fancy 
that a profound spiritual sensibility must needs awaken a power- 
ful physical sympathy. To such, groans, and sighs, and lamen- 
tations must be not only audible to exist at a,ll, but audible in 
a dramatic and striking form with men, in order to be groans, 
and sighs, and lamentations acceptable with God. It is cer- 
tain, at any rate, that the practices which reason, education, a 
good taste, and a sound comprehension of Christian obligations 
condemn, are, if not most effective, still effective with the igno- 
rant and coarse-minded. Thus may it have been with Jaaf, 
who had not fallen into the hands of the exajrsrerated durinsr 
that period of life when he was most likely to be aroused by 
their practices, and who now really seemed to have lived beyond 
every thing but the recollections connected with the persons 
and things he loved in youth. 

As men, in the higher meaning of the term, the reader will 
remember that Susquesus was ever vastly the superior of the 
Vlack. Jaafs intellect had suffered under the blight which 
seems to have so generally caused the African mind to wither, 
as we' know that mind among ourselves; while that of his 
associate had ever possessed much of the loftiness of a grand 
nature, left to its native workings by the impetus of an unre- 
strained, though savage liberty. 

Such were the characters of the two extraordinary men whom 
we now went forth to meet. Bv the tunc we reached Ihe lawn, 



472 THE 11 E D S K I N S . 

lliey were walking sloAvly toward the piazza, Laving got witliin 
the range of the shrubbery that immediately surrounds, and 
sheds its perfume on the house. The Indian led, as seemed to 
become his character and rank. But Jaaf had never presumed 
on his years and indulgences so far as to forget his condition. 
A slavi3 he had been born, a slave had he lived, and a slave he 
would die. This, too, in spite of the law of emancipation, 
which had, in fact, liberated him long ere he had reached his 
hundredth year. I have been told that when my father an- 
nounced to Jaaf the fact that he and all his progeny, the latter 
of which was very numerous, were free and at liberty to go and 
do as they pleased, the old black was greatly dissatisfied, 
" What good dat all do, Masser Malbone," he gi-owled. " Why 
'ey won't let well alone? Nigger be nigger, and white gen- 
tlc'em be white gentle'em. I 'speck, now, nuttin' but disgrace 
and poverty come on my breed ! We alway hab been gen- 
tle' em's nigger, and why can't 'ey let us be gentle' em's nigger 
as long as we like ? Ole Sus hab liberty all he life, and what 
good he get ? Nuttin' bat poor red sabbage, for all dat, and 
never be any t'ing more. If he could be gentle'em's sabbage, 
I tell him, dat war' somet'ing ; but, no, he too proud for dat ! 
Gosh ! so he only he own sabbage !" 

"The Onondago was in high costume; much higher even 
than when he first received the visit of the prairie Indians. The 
paint he used, gave new fire to eyes that age had certainly 
dimmed, though they had not extinguished their light; and 
fierce and savage as was the conceit, it unquestionably relieved 
the furrows of time. That red should be as much the favorite 
color of the redskin is, perhaps, as natural as that our ladies 
should use cosmetics to imitate the lilies and roses that are 
wanting. A grim fierceness, hqwever, Avas the aim of the 
Onondago ; it being his ambition, at that moment, to stand 
before his guests in the colors of a warrior. Of the medals and 
wampum, and feathers, and blankets, and moccasins, gay with 
the quills of the porcupine, tinged half a dozen hues, and the 
tomahawk polished to the brightness of silver, it is not neces- 



TIIEREDSKINS. 473 

sary to say any tiling. So mucli has been said, and written, 
and seen, of late, on such subjects, that almost every one now 
knows how the North American warrior appears, when he 
comes forth in his robes. 

Nor had Jaaf neglected to do honor to a festival that was so 
peculiarly in honor of his friend. Grumble he would and did, 
throughout the whole of that day ; but he was not the less 
mindful of the credit and honor of Susquesus. It is the fashion 
of the times to lament the disappearance of the red-men from 
among us ; but, for my part, I feel much more disposed to 
mourn over the disappearance of the "nigger." I use the 
Doric, in place of the more modern and mincing tei-m of " col- 
ored man ;" for the Doric alone will convey to the American 
the meaning in which I wish to be understood. I regret the 
"nigger;" the old-fashioned, careless, light-hearted, laborious, 
idle, roguish, honest, faithful, fraudulent, gi'umbling, dogmatical 
slave ; who was at times good for nothing, and, again, the stay 
and support of many a family. But him I regret in particular 
is the domestic slave, who identified himself Avith the interests, 
and most of all wdth the credit of those he served, and who al- 
ways played the part of an humble privy counsellor, and some- 
times that of a prime minister. It is true, I had never seen 
Jaaf acting in the latter capacity, among us ; nor is it probable 
he ever did exactly discharge such functions with any of his old 
masters ; but he was a much-indulged servant alv/ays, and had 
become so completely associated with us, by not only long ser- 
vices, but by playing his part well and manfully in divers of the 
wild adventures that are apt to characterize the settlement of a 
new country, that we all of us thought of him rather as an 
humble and distant relative, than as a slave. Slave, indeed, he 
liad not been for more than fourscore years, his manumission- 
papers having been signed and regularly recorded as far back as 
that, though they remained a perfect dead letter, so far as the 
negro himself was concerned. 

The costume of Yop Littlcpagc, as this black was familiarly 
called by all who knew any thing of his existence, and his great 



474 THE REDSKINS. 

age, as well as that of Susquesus, liad got into more than one 
newspaper, was of what might bo termed the old school of the 
"nigger!" The coat was scarlet, with buttons of mother-of- 
pearl, each as large as a half-dollar ; his breeches were sky- 
blue ; the vest was green ; the stockings striped blue and white, 
and the legs had no other peculiarities about them, than the 
facts that all that remained of the calves was on the shins, 
and that they were stepped nearer than is quite common, to the 
centre of the foot ; the heel-part of the latter being about half 
as long as the part connected with the toes. The shoes, in- 
deed, were somewhat conspicuous portions of the dress, having 
a length, and breadth, and proportions that might almost justi- 
fy a naturalist in supposing that they were never intended for a 
human being. But the head and hat, according to Jaaf s own 
notion, contained the real glories of his toilette and person. 
^As for the last, it was actually laced, having formed a part of 
my grandfather General Cornelius Littlepage's uniform in the 
field, and the wool beneath it was as white as the snow of the 
hills. This style of dress has long disappeared from among the 
black race, as well as from among the whites ; but vestiges of 
it were to be traced, my uncle tells me, in his boyhood ; partic- 
ularly at the pinkster holidays, that peculiar festival of the 
negro. Notwithstanding the incongruities of his attire, Yop 
Littlepage made a very respectable figure on this occasion, the 
great age of both him and the Onondago being the circumstances 
that accorded least with their magnificence. 

Notwithstanding the habitual grumbling of the negro, the 
Indian always led when they made a movement. He had led 
in the forest, on the early hunts and on the war-paths ; he had 
led in their later excursions on the neighboring hills ; he al- 
ways led when it was their wont to stroll to the hamlet togeth- 
er, to witness the militia musters and other similar striking 
events ; he even was foremost when they paid their daily visits 
to the Nest ; and, now, he came a little in advance, slow in 
movement, quiet, with lips compressed, eye roving and watch- 
ful, and far from dim, and his whole features wonderfully com- 



THE REDSKINS. 475 

posed and noble, considering the great number of years be bad 
seen. Jaaf followed at the same gait, but a very different man 
in demeanor and aspect. His face scarce seemed human, even 
the color of his skin, once so glistening and black, having 
changed to a dirty gray, all its gloss having disappeared, while 
his lips were, perhaps, the most prominent feature. These, too, 
w^ere in incessant motion, the old man working his jaws, in a 
sort of second childhood ; or as the infant bites its gums to feel 
its nearly developed teeth, even when he was not keeping up the 
almost unceasing accompaniment of his grumbles. 

As the old men walked toward us, and the men of the prai- 
ries had not yet shown themselves, we all advanced to meet 
the former. Eveiy one of our party, the girls included, shook 
hands with Susquesus, and wished him a good morning. He 
knew my grandmother, and betrayed some strong feeling, when 
he shook her hand. He knew Patt, and nodded kindly in an- 
swer to her good wishes. He knew Mary Warren, too, and 
held her hand a little time in his own, gazing at her wistfully 
the while. My uncle Ro and I were also recognized, his look 
at me being earnest and long. The two other girls were cour- 
teously received, but his feelings were little interested in them. 
A chair was placed for Susquesus on the lawn, and he took his 
seat. As for Jaaf, he walked slowly up to the party, took off 
his fine cocked-hat, but respectfully refused the seat he too was 
offered. Happening thus to be the last saluted, he was the first 
with whom my grandmother opened the discourse. 

"It is a pleasant sight, Jaaf, to see you, and our old friend 
Susquesus, once more on the lawn of the old house." 

" Not so berry olc house. Miss Duss, a'ter all," answered the 
negro, in his grumbling way. "Eemem'er him well 'nough; 
only built tuddcr day." 

" It has been built threescore years, if you call that the other 
day. I was then young myself; a bride — happy and blessed 
far beyond my deserts. Alas ! how changed have things be- 
come since that time !" 

"Yes, you won'ciful changed — must say dut for you, Miss 



476 THE REDSKINS. 

Duss. I sometime surprise myself so young a lady get change 
so berry soon." 

"Ah! Jaaf, though it may seem a short time to you, who 
are so much my senior, fourscore years are a heavy load to carry. 
I enjoy excellent health and spirits for my years ; but age will 
assert its power." 

"Eemem'er you. Miss Duss, like dat young lady dere," 
pointing at Patt — " now you do seem won'erful change. 01c 
Sus, too, berry much alter of late — can't hole out much 
longer, I do t'inlc. But Injin ncbber hab much raal grit in 
'cm." 

"And you, my friend," continued my grandmother, turning 
to Susquesus, who had sat motionless while she was speaking to 
Jaaf — " do you also see this great change in me ? I have known 
you mucli longer than I have known Jaaf; and yow?* recollec- 
tion of me must go back nearly to childhood — to the time when 
I first lived in the woods, as a companion of my dear, excellent 
old uncle, Chainbearer." 

" Why should Susquesus forget little wren? Hear song now 
in his car. No change at all in little wren, in Susquesus' eye." 

" This is at least gallant, and worthy of an Onondago chief. 
But, my worthy friend, age will make its mark even on the 
trees; and we cannot hope to escape it forever !" 

" No ; bark smooth on young tree — rough on ole tree. Ncb- 
ber forget Chainbearer. He's same age as Susquesus — little 
ole'er, too. Brave warrior — good man. Know him when 
young hunter — he dere when dat happen." 

"When what happened, Susquesus? I have long wished to 
know what drove you from your people ; and why you, a red- 
man in your heart and habits, to tho last, should have so long 
lived among us pale-faces, away from your own tribe. I can 
understand why you like us, and wish to pass the remainder of 
vour days with this family ; for I know all that we have gone 
through together, and your early connection with my father-in- 
law, and his father-in-law, too ; but the reason why you left 
your own people so young, and have now lived near a htmdrcd 



THE REDSKINS. 411 

years away from them, is wliat I could wisli to hear, before the 
angel of death summons one of us away." 

While my grandmother was thus coming to the point, for the 
first time in her life, on this subject, as she afterward told me, 
the Onondago's eye was never off her own. I thought he 
seemed surprised ; then his look changed to sadness ; and bow- 
ing his head a little, he sat a long time, apparently musing on 
the past. The subject had evidently aroused the strongest of 
the remaining feelings of the old man, and the allusion to it hacj 
brought back images of things long gone by, that were prob 
ably reviewed not altogether without pain. I think his head 
must have been bowed, and his face riveted on the ground, for 
quite a minute. 

" Chainbcarer ncbber say why?" the old man suddenly 
asked, raising his face again to look at my grandmother. " Ole 
chief, too — he know ; nebber talk of it, eh?" 

" Never. I have heard both my uncle and my father-in-law 
say that they knew the reason Avhy you left your people, so 
many long, long, years ago, and that it did you credit; but 
neither ever said more. It is reported here, that these red-men, 
who have come so far to see you, also know it, and that it is 
one reason of their coming so much out of their way to jiay 
you a visit." 

Susquesus listened attentively, though no portion of his per- 
son manifested emotion but his eyes. All the rest of the man 
seemed to be made of some material that was totally without 
sensibility ; but those restless, keen, still penetrating eyes, opened 
a communication with the being within, and proved that the 
spirit was far younger than the tenement in which it dwelt. 
Still, he made no revelation ; and our curiosity, which was 
getting to be intense, was completely baffled. It was even 
some little time before the Indian said any thing more at all. 
When he did speak, it was merely to say — 

" Good. Chainbearcr wise chief — Gin'ral wise, too. Good 
in camp — good at council-fire. Know ivhcn to talk — know 
ivhal to talk." 



4^8 THE REDSKINS. 

How much further my dear grandmother might have been 
disposed to push the subject, I cannot say, for just then, we 
saw the redskins coming out of their quarters, evidently about 
to cross from the old farm to the lawn, this being their last 
visit to the Trackless, preparatory to departing on their long 
journey to the prairies. Aware of all this, she fell back, and 
my uncle led Susquesus to the tree where the benches were 
placed for the guests, I carrying the chair ia the rear. Every- 
body followed, even to all the domestics who could be spared 
from the ordinary occupations of the household. 

The Indian and the negro were both seated ; and chairs hav- 
ing been brought out for the members of the family, we took 
our places near by, though so much in the back-ground as not 
to appear obtrusive. 

The Indians of the prairies arrived in their customary march- 
ing order, or in single files. Manytongues led, followed by 
Prairiefire ; Flintyheart and Eaglesflight came next, and the 
rest succeeded in a nameless but perfect order. To our sur- 
prise, however, they brought the two prisoners with them, 
secured with savage ingenuity, and in a way to render escape 
nearly impossible. 

It is unnecessary to dwell on the deportment of these stran 
gcrs, as they took their allotted places on the benches, it being 
essentially the same as that described in their first visit. The 
same interest, however, was betrayed in their manner, nor did 
their curiosity or veneration appear to be in the least appeased, 
by having passed a day or two in the immediate vicinity of 
their subject. That this curiosity and veneration proceeded, in 
some measure, from the great age and extended experience of 
the Trackless was probable enough, but I could not divest my- 
self of the idea that there lay something unusual behind all, 
which tradition had made familiar to these sons of the soil, but 
which had become lost to us. 

The American savage enjoys one great advantage over the 
civilized man of the same quarter of the world. His traditions 
ordinarily are true, whereas, the multiplied means of imparting 



THE REDSKINS. 



479 



mtelligeiice amowg ourselves, has induced so many pretcnder3 
to throw thenisehes into the ranks of the wise and learned, that 
blessed, thrice blessed is he, Avhose mind escapes the contamina- 
tion of falsehood and prejudice. Well would it be for men, if 
they oftener remembered that the very facilities that exist to 
circulate the truth, are just so many facilities for circulating false- 
hood ; and that he who believes even one-half of that which 
meets his eyes, in his daily inquiries into passing events, is most 
apt to threw away quite a moiety of even that much credulity, 
on facts that either never had an existence at all, or, which 
have been so mutilated in the relation, that their eye-witnesses 
would be the last to recognize them. 

The customary silence succeeded the arrival of the visitors ; 
then Eaglesflight struck fire with a flint, touched the tobacco 
with the flame, and pufted at a very curiously carved pipe, 
made of some soft stone of the interior, until he had lighted it 
beyond any risk of its soon becoming extinguished. This done, 
he rose, advanced with profound reverence in his air, and pre- 
sented it to Susquesus, who took it and smoked for a few sec- 
onds, after which he returned it to him from whom it had been 
received. This was a signal for other pipes to be lighted, and 
one was oflered to my uncle and myself, each of us making a 
puff" or two ; and even John and the other male domestics were 
not neglected. Prairiefire himself paid the compliment to 
Jaaf. The negro had noted what was passing, and was much 
disgusted with the niggardliness which required the pipe to be 
so soon returned. This he did not care to conceal, as was 
obvious by the crusty observation he made when the pipe was 
offered to him. Cider and tobacco had, from time immemorial, 
been the two great blessings of this black's existence, and he 
felt, at seeing one standing ready to receive his pipe, after a 
puff" or two, much as he might have felt had one pulled the 
mug from his mouth, after the second or third swallow. 

" No need wait here" — grumbled old Jaaf— "when I done, 
gib you de pipe, ag'in ; nebber fear. Masser Corny, or Masscr 
Malbone, or Masser Hugh— dear me, T nebber knows which bo 



480 THE REDSKINS. 

libbiu' and whicli be dead, I get so ole, nowaday ! But nebber 
mind if he be ole ; can smoke yet, and don't lub Injin fashion 
of gibbin' t'ings ; and dat is gib him and den take away ag'in. 
Nigger is nigger, and Injin is Injin ; and nigger best. Lord ! 
how many years I do see — I do see — most get tire of libbin' so 
long. Don't wait, Injin; when I done, you get pipe again, I 
say. Best not make ole Jaaf too mad, or he dreadful !" 

Although it is probable that Prairiefire did not understand 
one-half of the negTo's words, he comprehended his wish to 
finish the tobacco, before he relinquished the pipe. Tliis was 
against all rule, and a species of slight on Indian usages, but 
the red-man overlooked all, with the courtesy of one trained in 
high society, and walked away as composedly as if every thing 
were right. In these particulars the high-breeding of an Indian 
is always made apparent. No one ever sees in his deportment, 
a shrug, or a half-concealed smile, or a look of intelligence ; a 
Avink or a nod, or any other of that class of signs, or communi- 
cations, which it is usually deemed underbred to resort to in 
company. In all things, he is dignified and quiet, whether it 
be the effect of coldness, or the result of character. 

The smoking now became general, but only as a ceremony ; 
no one but Jaaf setting to with regularity to finish his pipe. As 
for the black, his opinion of the superiority of his own race 
over that of the red-man, was as fixed as his consciousness of 
its inferiority to the white, and he would have thought the 
circumstance that the present mode of using tobacco was an 
Indian custom, a sufficient reason why he himself should not 
adopt it. The smoking did not last long, but was succeeded 
by a silent pause. Then Prairiefire arose and spoke. 

"Father," he commenced, "we are about to quit you. Our 
squaws and pappooses, on the prairies, wish to see us ; it is 
time for us to go. They are looking toward the great salt lake 
for us ; wc are looking toward the great fresh-water lakes for 
them. There the sun sets — here it rises ; tlie distance is great, 
and many strange tribes of pale-faces live along the path. Our 
journey has been one of peace. We have not hunted ; we have 



THE REDSKINS. 481 

taken no scalps ; but we have seen our great father, uncle Sam, 
and we have seen our great father Susquesus ; we shall travel to- 
ward the setting sun satisfied. Father, our traditions are true ; 
they never lie. A lying tradition is worse than a lying Indian. 
What a lying Indian says, deceives his friends, his wife, his 
children ; what a lying tradition says, deceives a tribe. Our 
traditions are true ; they speak of the Upright Onondago. All 
the tribes on the prairies have heard this tradition, and are very 
glad. It is good to hear of justice ; it is bad to hear of injus- 
tice. Without justice an Indian is no better than a wolf. No; 
there is not a tongue spoken on the prairies which does not tell 
of that pleasant tradition. We could not pass the wigwam of 
our father without turning aside to look at him. Our squaws 
and pappooses wish to see us, but they would have told us to 
come back, and turn aside to look upon our father, had we for- 
gotten to do so. Why has my father seen so many wiuters ? 
It is the will of the Manitou, The Great Spirit wants to keep 
liira here a little longer. lie is like stones piled together to 
tell the hunters where the pleasant path is to be found. All 
the red-men who see him think of what is right. No ; the 
Great Spirit cannot yet spare my father from the earth, lest 
red men forget what is right. He is stones piled together." 

Here Prairiefire ceased, sitting down amidst a low murmur 
of applause. He had expressed the common feeling, and met 
with the success usual to such efibrts. Susquesus had heard 
and understood all that was said, and I could perceive that he 
felt it, though he betrayed less emotion on this occasion than 
he had done on the occasion of the previous interview. Then, 
the novelty of the scene, no doubt, contributed to influence his 
feelings. A pause followed this opening speech, and we were 
anxiously waiting for the renowned orator Eaglesflight, to rise, 
when a singular and somewhat ludicrous interruption of the 
solemn dignity of the scene occurred. In the place of Eagles- 
flight, whom Manytongues had given us reason to expect would 
now come forth with energy and power, a much younger war- 
rior arose and spoke, commanding the attention of his Usteners 
21 



482 THEREDSKIKS. 

in a way to sliow that he possessed their respect. We were 
told that the young warrior's name, rendered into English, Avas 
Deersfoot, an appellation obtained on account of his speed, and 
which we were assured he well merited. Much to our surprise, 
however, he addressed himself to Jaaf, Indian courtesy requir- 
ing that something should be said to the constant friend and 
tried associate of the Trackless. The reader may be certain 
we were all much amused at this bit of homage, though every 
one of us felt some little concern on the subject of the answei 
it might elicit. Deersfoot delivered himself, substantially, as 
follows : — 

" The Great Spirit sees all things ; he makes all things. In 
his eyes, color is nothing. Although he made children that ho 
loved of a red color, he made children that he loved with pale 
faces, too. He did not stop there. No ; he said, ' I wish to 
see warriors and men with faces darker than the skin of the 
bear. I wiU have warriors who shall frighten their enemies by 
thoit countenances.' He made black men. My father is black ; 
his skin is neither red, like the skin of Susquesus, nor white, 
like the skin of the young chief of Raveusnest. It is now gray, 
with having had the sun shine on it so many summers ; but it 
was once the color of the ci*ow. Then it must have been pleas- 
ant to look at. My black father is very old. They tell me he 
is even older than the Upright Onondago. The Manitou must 
be well pleased with him, not to have called him away sooner. 
He has left him in his wigwam, that all the black men may see 
whom their Great Spirit loves. This is the tradition told to us by 
our fathers. The pale men come from the rising sun, and weje 
born before the heat burned their skins. The black men came 
from under the sun at noon-day, and their faces were darkened 
by looking up above their heads to admire the warmth that 
ripened their fruits. The red men were born under the sotting 
sun, and their faces were colored by the hues of the evening 
skies. The red man was bom here ; the pale man was born 
across the salt lake ; the black man came from a country of his 
Q\yn, where the su|i is always above his head. What of that ? 



THE REDSKINS. 483 

We are brothers. The Tliicklips (this was the name by which 
the strangers designated Jaaf, as we afterward learned) is the 
friend of Susquesus. They have lived in the same wigwam,, 
now, so many winters, that their venison and bear's-meat have 
the same taste. They love one another. Whomsoever Sus- 
qnesus loves and honors, all just Indians love and honor. I 
iiave no more to say." 

It is very certain that Jaaf would not have understood a syl- 
lable that was uttered in this address, had not Manytongues 
first given him to understand that Deersfoot was talking to him 
in particular, and then translated the speaker's language, word 
for word, and with great deliberation, as each sentence was 
finished. Even this care might not have suflBced to make the 
negro sensible of what was going on, had not Patt gone to him, 
and told him, in a manner and voice to which he was accus- 
tomed, to attend to what was said, and to endeavor, as soon as 
Deersfoot sat down, to say something in reply. Jaaf was so 
accustomed to my sister, and was so deeply impressed with the 
necessity of obeying her, as one of his many "y'ung missuses" 
— which he scarcely knew himself — that she succeeded in per- 
fectly arousing him ; and he astonished us all with the intelli- 
gence of his very characteristic answer, which he did not fail to 
deliver exactly as he had been directed to do. Previously to 
beginning to speak, the negro champed his toothless gums to- 
gether, like a vexed swine ; but " y'ung missus" had told him 
he must answer, and answer he did. It is probable, also, that 
the old fellow had some sort of recollection of such scenes, hav- 
ing been present, in his younger days, at various councils held 
by the different tribes of New York ; among whom my grand- 
father. General Mordaunt Littlepage, liad more than once been 
a commissioner. 

"Well," Jaaf began, in a short, snappish manner, " s'pose 
nigger must say somet'iu'. No berry great talker, 'cause I no 
Injin. Nigger had too much work to do, to talk all 'o time. 
What you say 'bout where nigger come from, isn't true. He 
come from Africa, as I hear 'cm say, 'long time ago. Ahs, 



484 THE REDSKINS. 

me ! liow olc I do get ! Sometimes I t'inlc poor olc black man 
be nebber to lie down and rest himself. It do seem dat ebbery 
. body tako bis rest but old Sus and me. I berry strong, yet ; 
and git stronger and stronger, dough won'erful tired ; but Sus, 
he git weaker and weaker ebbery day. Can't last long, now, 
poor Sus ! Ebbery body must die some time. Ole, ole, ole 
masser and missus, fust dey die. Den Masser Corny go ; putty 
well adwanced, too. Den come Masser Mordaunt's turn, and 
Masser Malbone, and now dere anudder Masser Hugh. Well, 
dey putty much all de same to me. I lubs 'em all, and all on 
'em lubs me. Den Miss Duss count for somet'in', but she be 
libbin', yet. Most time she die, too, but don't seem to go. 
Ahs, me ! how ole I do git 1 Ha ! dere come dem debbils of 
Injins, ag'in, and dis time we must clean 'em out ! Get your 
rifle, Sus ; get your rifle, boy, and mind dat ole Jaaf be at your 
elbow." 

Sure enough, there the Injins did come ; but I must reserve 
an account of what followed for the commencement of the next 
chapter. 



TUE REDSKINS. 485 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

"Ilope — that thy TVTongs will be by the Great Spirit 
Eemcmbored .ind revenged -when thou art gone ; 
Sorrow — that none are left thee to inherit 
Thy name, thy fame, thy passions, and thy throne." 

Eed Jacket. 

It was a little remarkable that one as old and blear-eyed as 
the negro, should be the first among us to discover the approach 
of a large body of the Injins, who could not be less than two 
hundred in number. The circumstance was probably owing to 
the fact that, while every other eye was riveted on the speaker, 
liis eyes were fastened on nothing. There the Injins did come, 
however, iu force ; and this time, apparently, without fear. 
Tlie white American meets the red-man with much confidence, 
when he is prepared for the struggle ; and the result has shown 
that, when thrown upon his resources, in the wilderness, and 
after he has been allowed time to gain a little experience, he is 
usually the most formidable enemy. But a dozen Indians, of 
the stamp of those who had here come to visit us, armed and 
painted, and placed in the centre of one of our largest peopled 
counties, would be suflacient to throw that county into a parox- 
ysm of fear. Until time were given for thought, and the 
opinions of the judicious superseded the effects of rumor, noth- 
ing but panic would prevail. Mothers would clasp their chil- 
dren to their bosoms, fathers would hold back their sons from 
the slaughter, and even the heroes of the militia would momen- 
tarily forget their ardor in the suggestions of prudence and fore- 
thought. 

Such, in fact, had been the state of things in and about 
Kavcnsncst, when Flintyheart so unexpectedly led his compan- 



486 . THE REDSKINS. 

ions into tlie forest, and dispersed the virtuous and oppressed 
tenants of my estate on tlieir return from a meeting held with 
but one virtuous object ; viz., that of transferring the fee of the 
farms they occupied, from mc to themselves. No one doubted, 
at the moment, that in addition to the other enormities com- 
mitted by me and mine, I had obtained a body of savages from 
the far west, to meet the forces already levied by the tenants, 
on a principle that it would not do to examine very clearly. If 
I had done so, I am far from certain that I should not have been 
perfectly justified in morals; for an evil of that nature, that 
might at any time be put down in a month, and which is suf- 
fered to exist for years, through the selfish indifference of the 
community, restores to every man his natural rights of self-de- 
fence ; though I make no doubt, had I resorted to such means, 
I should have been hanged, without benefit of philanthropists ; 
the " clergy" in this country not being included in the class, so 
far as suspension by the neck is concerned. 

But the panic had disappeared, as soon as the truth became 
known concerning the true object of the visit of the redskins. 
The courage of the " virtuous and honest" revived, and one of 
the first exhibitions of this renewed spirit was the attempt to 
set fire to my house and barns. So serious a demonstration, it 
was thought, would convince me of the real power of the peo- 
ple, and satisfy us all that their wishes are not to be resisted 
with impunity. As no one likes to have his house and barns 
burned, it must be a singular being who could withstand the in- 
fluence of such a manifestation of the "spirit of the institu- 
tions ;" for it is just as reasonable to suppose that the attempts 
of the incendiaries came within their political category, as it is 
to suppose that the attempt of the tenants to get a title beyond 
what was bestowed in their leases, was owing to this cause. 

That habit of deferring to externals, which is so general in a 
certain class of our citizens, and which endures in matters of 
religion long after the vital principle is forgotten, prevented any 
serious outbreak on the next day, which was the Sunday men- 
tioned ; though the occasion was improved to coerce by intimi- 



THE REDSKINS. 487 

dation, tlic meeting and resolutions having been regularly digest- 
ed in secret conclave, among the local leaders of anti-rentism, 
and carried out, as has been described. Then followed the de- 
struction of the canopy, another demonstration of the " spirit 
of the institutions," and as good an argument as any that has 
yet been offered, in favor of the dogmas of the new political 
faith. Public opinion is entitled to some relief, surely, when it 
betrays so much excitement as to desecrate churches and to de- 
stroy private property. This circumstance of the canopj'^ had 
been much dwelt on, as a favorable anti-rent argument, and it 
might now be considered that the subject was carried out to 
demonstration. 

By the time all this Avas effected, so completely had the 
" Injins" got over their dread of the Indians, that it was with 
difficulty the leaders of the former could prevent the most 
heroic portion of their corps from following their blow at the 
canopy by a coup de main against the old farm-house, and its 
occupants. Had not the discretion of the leaders been greater 
than that of their subordinates, it is very probable blood would 
liave been shed, between these quasi belligerents. But the 
warriors of the prairies were the guests of Uncle Sam, and the 
old gentleman, after all, has a long arm, and can extend it from 
Washington to Ravensnest Avithout much effort. He was not 
to be offended heedlessly, therefore ; for his power was especi- 
ally to be dreaded in this matter of the covenants, without 
which Injins and agitation would be altogether unnecessary to 
jittaining the great object, the Albany politicians being so well 
disposed to do all they can for the "virtuous and honest." 
Uncle Sam's Indians, consequently, were held a good deal more 
in respect than the laws of the state, and they consequently 
escaped being murdered in their sleep. 

When Jaaf first drew our attention to the Injins, they were 
advancing, in a long line, by the highway, and at a moderate 
pace ; leaving us time to shift our own position, did we deem 
it necessary. My uncle was of opinion it would never do to 
remain out on the lawn, exj>osed to so great a superiority of 



488 THE REDSKINS. 

force, and lie took his measures accordingly. In tlic first place, 
the females, mistresses and maids — and there were eight or ten 
of the last — were requested to retire, at once, to the house. 
The latter, with John at their head, were directed to close all 
the lower, outside shutters of the building, and secure them 
within. This done, and the gate and two outer doors fastened, 
it would not he altogether without hazard to make an assault on 
our fortress. As no one required a second request to move, this 
part of the precautions was soon effected, and the house placed 
in a species of temporary security. 

While the foregoing was in the course of execution, Susque- 
sus and Jaaf were induced to change their positions, by trans- 
ferring themselves to the piazza. That change was made, and 
the two old fellows Avere comfortably seated in their chairs, 
again, before a single man of the redskins moved a foot. There 
they all remained, motionless as so inany statues, with the ex- 
ception that Flintyheart seemed to be reconnoitring with his 
eyes, the thicket that fringed the neighboring ravine, and which 
formed a bit of dense cover, as already described, of some con- 
siderable extent. 

" Do you wish the redskins in the house, colonel ?" asked 
the interpreter, coolly, when matters had reached to this pass ; 
" if you do, it's time to speak, or, they'll soon be off, like a 
flock of pigeons, into that cover. There'll be a fight as sartain 
as they move, for there's no more joke and making of faces 
about them critturs, than there is about a mile-stone. So, it's 
best to speak in time." 

No delay occurred after this hint was given. The request of 
my uncle Ro that the chiefs would follow the Upright Onondago, 
was just in time to prevent a flight; in the sense of Many-- 
tongues, I mean, for it was not veiy likely these warriors would 
literally run away. It is probable that they would have pre- 
ferred the cover of the woods as more natural and familiar to 
them — but, I remarked, as the whole party came on the piazza, 
that Flintyheart, in particular, cast a quick, scrutinizing glance 
at the house, which said in pretty plain language that he was 



THE REDSKINS. 489 

examining its capabilities as a -work of defence. The move- 
ment, however, was made with perfect steadiness ; and, Avhat 
most surprised us all, was the fact that not one of the chiefs 
appeared to pay the slightest attention to their advancing foes ; 
or, men whom it was reasonable for them to suppose so consid- 
ered themselves to be. We imputed this extraordinary reserve 
to force of character, and a desire to maintain a calm and dig- 
nified deportment in the presence of Susquesus. If it were 
really the latter motive that so comjjletely restrained every ex- 
hibition of impatience, apprehension, or disquietude, they had 
every reason to congratulate themselves on the entire success 
of their characteristic restraint on their feelings. 

The Injins were just appearing on the lawn as our arrange- 
ments Avere completed. John had come to report every shutter 
secure, and the gate and little door barred. He also informed 
us that all the men and boys who could be mustered, including 
gardeners, laborers, and stable people, to the number of five or 
six, were in the little passage, armed ; where riiles were ready 
also for ourselves. In short, the preparations that had been 
made by my grandmotlier, immediately after her arrival, were 
now of use, and enabled us to make much more formidable re- 
sistance, sustained as we were by the party from the Prairies, 
tban I could have ever hoped for on so sudden an emergency. 

Our arrangement was very simple. The ladies were seated 
near the great door, in order that they might be placed under 
cover the first, in the event of necessity ; Susquesus and Jjiaf 
had their chairs a little on one side, but quite near this group, 
and the men from the far Avest occupied the opposite end of 
the piazza, whither the benches had been removed, for their 
accommodation. Many tongues stood between the two divi- 
sions of our company, ready to interpret for either ; Avhile my 
uncle, myself, John, and two or three of the other servants took 
position behind our aged friends. Seneca and his fellow-incen- 
diary were in the midst of the chiefs. 

It was just as the Injins had got fairly on the lawn that wo 
heard the clattering of hoofs, and every eye Avas turned in the 



490 THE REDSKINS. 

direction whence the sound proceeded. This was on the side 
of the ravine, and to me it seemed from the first that some one 
was approaching us through that dell. So it proved, truly ; for 
soon Opportunity came galloping up the path, and appeared in 
sight. She did not check her horse until under the tree, where 
she alighted, by a single bound, and hitching the animal to a 
hook in the tree, she moved swiftly toward the house. My 
sister Patt advanced to the steps of the piazza to receive this 
unexpected guest, and I was just behind her to make my bow. 
But the salutations of Opportunity were hasty and far from 
being very composed. She glanced around her, ascertained 
the precise condition of her brother — and, taking my arm, she 
led me into the library with very little, or, indeed, with no 
ceremony ; for, to give this young woman her due, she was a 
person of great energy when there was any thing serious to be 
done. The only sign of deviating, in the slightest degree, from 
the object in view, was pausing one instant, in passing, to make 
her compliments to my grandmother. 

"What, in the name of wonder, do you mean to do Avith 
Sen ?" demanded this active young lady, looking at me intently, 
with an expression half-hostile, half- tender. "You arc stand- 
ing over an earthquake, Mr. Hugh, if you did but know it." 

Opportunity had confounded the effect with the cause, but 
that was of little moment on an occasion as interesting. She 
was much in earnest, and I had learned by experience that her 
hints and advice might be of great service to us at the Nest. 

" To what particular danger do you allude, my dear Oppor- 
tunity ?" 

"Ah, Hugh! if things was only as they used to be, how 
happy might we all be together here at Eavensnest ! But, there 
is no time to talk of such things ; for, as Sarah Soothings says, 
' the heart is most monopolized when grief is the profoundest, 
and it is only when our sentiments rise freely to the surface of 
the imagination, that the mind escapes the shackles of thraldom.' 
But, I haven't a minute for Sarah Soothings, even, just now. 
Don't you .see the Injins 2"' 



THE REDSKINS. 491 

*' Quite plainly ; and they probably see my ' Indians.' " 

" Oh ! they don't regard them now the least in the world. 
At first, when they thought you might have hired a set of des- 
perate wretches to scalp the folks, there was some misgivings ; 
but the whole story is now known, and nobody cares a straw 
about them. If any body's scalp is taken, 'twill be their own. 
Why, the whole country is up, and the report has gone forth, 
far and near, that you have brought in with you a set of blood- 
thirsty savages from the prairies to cut the throats of women 
and children, and drive off the tenants, that you may get all 
the farms into your own hands before the lives fall in. Some 
folks say, these savages have had a list of all the lives named in 
your leases given to them, and that they are to make way with 
all such people first, that you may have the law as much as 
possible on your side. You stand on an earthquake, Mr. 
Hugh ; — you do, indeed !" 

"My dear Opportunity," I answered, laughing, "I am m- 
finitely obliged to you for all this attention to my interests, and 
freely own that on Saturday night you were of great service to 
rac ; but I must now think that you magnify the danger — that 
you color the picture too high." 

" Not in the least, I do protest, you stand on an earthquake ; 
and as your friend, I have ridden over here to tell you as much, 
while there is yet time." 

" To get off it, I suppose you mean. But how can all these 
evil and blood-thirsty reports be abroad, when the characters 
of the Western Indians are, as you own yourself, understood, 
and the dread of them that did exist in the town lias entirely 
vanished ? There is a contradiction in this." 

" Why, you know how it is, in anti-rent times. When an 
excitement is needed, folks don't stick at facts very closely, but 
repeat things, and make things, just as it happens to be con- 
venient." 

"True ; I can understand this, and have no difficulty in be^ 
licving you now. But have you come here this morning simply 
to let me know the danger which besets me from this quarter ?" 



493 THE REDSKINS. 

** I believe I'm always only too ready to gallop over to the 
Nest ! But every body bas some weakness or other, and I sup- 
pose I am to be no exception to the rule," returned Opportuni- 
ty, who doubtless fancied the moment propitious to throw in a 
volley toward achieving her great conquest, and who reinforced 
that volley of words with such a glance of the eye, as none but 
a most practised picaroon on the sea of flirtation could have 
thrown. " But, Hugh — I call you Hugh, Mr. Littlepage, for 
you seem more like Hugh to me, than like the proud, evil- 
minded ' aristocrat, and hard-hearted landlord, that folks want 
to make you out to be — but I never could have told you what I 
did last night, had I supposed it would bring Sen into this 
difficulty." 

"I can very well understand hoAv unpleasantly you are situa- 
ted as respects your brother, Opportunity, and your friendly 
services will not be forgotten in the manaa;ement of his affairs." 

" If you are of this mind, why won't you suffer these Injins 
to get him out of the hands of your real savages," returned 
Opportunity, coaxingly. "I'll promise for him that Sen will 
go off, and stay off for some months, if you insist on't ; when 
all is forgotten, he can come back again." 

" Is the release of your brother, then, the object of this visit 
from the Injins ?" 

"Partly so — they're bent on having him. He's in all the 
secrets of the anti-renters, and they're afraid for their very lives, 
so long as he's in your hands. Should he get a little scared, 
and give up only one-quarter of what he knows, thcre'd be no 
peace in the county for a twelvemonth." 

At this instant, and before there was time to make an answer, 
I was summoned to the piazza, the Injins approaching so near 
as to induce my uncle to step to the door and call my name in 
a loud voice. I was compelled to quit Opportunity, who did 
not deem it prudent to show herself among us, though her 
presence in the house, as an intercessor for her brother, could 
excite neither surprise nor resentment. 

When I reached the piazza, the Injins had advanced as far as 



THE IlED SKINS. 493 

the tree where we had first hccn posted, and there they had 
halted, seemingly for a conference. In their rear, Mr. Warren 
was walking hurriedly toward us, keeping the direct lino, re- 
gardless of those whom he well knew to be inimical to him, 
and intent only on reaching the house before it could be gained 
by the " disguised and armed." This little circumstance gave 
rise to an incident of touching interest, and which I cannot re- 
frain from relating, though it may interrupt the narration of 
matters that others may possibly think of more moment. 

Mr. "Warren did not pass directly through the crowd of riot- 
ers — for such those people were, in effect, unless the epithet 
should be changed to the still more serious one of rebels — but 
he made a little detour, in order to prevent a collision that was 
unnecessary. When about half-way between the tree and the 
piazza, however, the Injins gave a discordant yell, and many of 
them sprang forward, as if in haste to overtake, and probably 
to arrest, him. Just as we all involuntarily arose, under a 
common feeling of interest in the fate of the good rector, Mary 
darted from the piazza, was at her father's side and in his arms 
so quickly, as to seem to have flown there. Clinging to his 
side, she appeared to urge him toward us. But Mr. Warren 
adopted a course much wiser than that of flight would have 
been. Conscious of having said or done no more than his duty, 
he stopped and faced his pursuers. The act of Mary Warren 
had produced a .check to the intended proceedings of these 
lawless men, and the calm, dignified aspect of the divine com- 
pleted his conquest. The leaders of the Injins paused, con- 
ferred together, when all who had issued from the main body 
returned to their companions beneath the tree, leaving Mr. 
Warren and his charming daughter at liberty to join us unmo- 
lested, and with decorum. 

Tlie instant Mary Warren left the piazza on her pious errand, 
T sprang forward to follow her with an impulse I could not con- 
trol. Although my own power over this impulsive movement 
was so small, that of my uncle and grandmother was greater. 
The former seized the skirt of my ftock, and held me back by 



494 THE REDSKINS. 

main strength, while the light touch of the latter had even 
greater power. Both remonstrated, and with so much obvious 
justice, that I saw the folly of what I was about in an instant, 
and abandoned my design. Had / fallen into the hands of the 
anti-renters, their momentary triumph, at least, would have been 
complete. 

Mr. Warren ascended the steps of the piazza with a niicn as 
unaltered, and an air as undisturbed, as if about to enter his 
own church. The good old gentleman had so schooled his 
feelings, and was so much accustomed to view himself as espe- 
cially protected, or as so ready to suffer, when in the discharge 
of any serious duty, that I have had occasions to ascertain fear 
was unknown to him. As for Mary, never had she appeared 
so truly lovely, as she ascended the steps, still clinging fondl}'^ 
and confidingly to his arm. The excitement of such a scene 
had brought more than the usual quantity of blood into her 
face, and the brilliancy of her eyes was augmented by that cir- 
cumstance, perhaps ; but I fancied that a more charming pic- 
ture of feminine softness, blended with the self-devotion of the 
child, could not have been imagined by the mind of man. 

Putt, dear, generous girl, sprang forward to embrace her 
friend, which she did with warmth and honest fervor, and my 
venerable grandmother kissed her on both cheeks, while the 
other two girls were not backward in giving the customary 
signs of the sympathy of their sex. ]My uncle- Ro even went so 
far as gallantly to kiss her hand, causing the poor girl's face to 
be suffused with blushes, while poor Ilugh was obliged to keep 
in the background, and content himself with looking his ad- 
miration. I got one glance, however, from the sweet creature, 
that was replete Avith consolation, since it assured mc that my 
forbearance was understood, and attributed to its right motive. 

In that singular scene, the men of the prairies alone appear- 
ed to be unmoved. Even the domestics and workmen had 
betrayed a powerful interest in this generous act of Mary War- 
ren's, the females all screaming in chorus, very much as a mat- 
ter of course. But, not an Indian moved. Scarce one turned 



TIIK REDSKINS. 495 

his eyes from the countenance of Susqucsus, though all must 
have been conscious that something of interest was going on so 
near them, by the concern we betrayed ; and all certainly knew 
that their enemies were hard by. As respects the last, I have 
supposed the unconcern, or seeming unconcern of these western 
warriors, ought to be ascribed to the circumstance of the pres- 
ence of the ladies, and an impression that there could be no 
very imminent risk of hostilities wbile the company then present 
remained together. The apathy of the chiefs seemed to be 
extended to the interpreter, who was coolly lighting his pipe at 
the very moment when the whole affair of the Warren episode 
occurred ; an occupation that was not interrupted by the clamor 
and confusion among ourselves. 

As there was a delay in the nearer approach of the Injins, 
there was leisure to confer together for a moment. Mr. AVarrcn 
told us, therefore, that he had seen the " disguised and armed" 
pass the rectory, and had followed in order to act as a mediator 
between us and any contemplated harm. 

*' The desti-uction of the canopy of Hugh's pew, must have 
given you a serious intimation that things were coming to a 
head," observed my grandmother. 

Mr. Warren had not heard of the affair of the canopy, at all. 
Although living quite within sound of a hammer used in the 
church, every thing had been conducted with so much manage- 
ment, that the canopy had been taken down, and removed 
bodily, without any one in the rectory's knowing the fact. The 
latter had become known at the Nest, solely by the circum- 
stance that the object which had so lately canopied aristocracy 
in St. Andrew's, Ravensnest, was now canopying pigs up at tlie 
farm-house. The good divine expressed his surprise a little 
strongly, and, as I thought, his regrets a little indifferently. He 
was not one to countenance illegality and violence, and least of 
all that peculiarly American vice, envy ; but, on the other 
hand, he was not one to look Avith favor on the empty distinc- 
tions, as set up between men equally sinners and in need of 
grace to redeem them from a common condemnation, in the 



490 THE REDSKINS. 

house of God. As the gi'ave is known to be the great leveller 
of the human race, so ought the church to be used as a pre- 
paratory step in descending to the plain all must occupy, in 
spirit at least, before they can hope to be elevated to any, even 
of the meanest places, among the many mansions of our Father's 
bosom ! 

There was but a short breathing time given us, however, be- 
fore the Injins again advanced. It was soon evident they did 
not mean to remain mere idle spectators of the scene that was 
in the course of enactment on the piazza, but that it was their 
intention to become actors, in some mode or other. Forming 
themselves into a line, that savored a great deal more of the 
militia of this great republic than of the warriors of the west, 
they came on tramping, with the design of striking terror into 
our souls. Our arrangements were made, however, and on our 
part every thing was conducted just as one could have wished. 
The ladies, influenced by my grandmother, retained their seats, 
near the door ; the men of the household wei'e standing, but 
continued stationary, while not an Indian stirred. As for Sus- 
quesus, he had lived far beyond surprises and all emotions of 
the lower class, and the men of the prairies appeared to take 
their cues from him. So long as he continued immovable, they 
seemed disposed to remain immovable also. 

The distance between the tree and the piazza, did not much 
exceed a hundred yards, and little time was necessary to march 
across it. I remarked, however, that, contrary to the laws of 
attraction, the nearer the Injins' line got to its goal, the slower 
and more unsteady its movement became. It also lost its 
formation, bending into curves, though its tramps became loud- 
er and louder, as if those who were in it, wished to keep alive 
their own courage by noise. When within fifty feet of the 
steps, they ceased to advance at all, merely stamping with their 
feet, as if hoping to frighten us into flight. I thought this a 
favorable moment to do that which it had been decided "between 
my uncle and mys6lf ought to be done by me, as owner of the 
property these lawless men had thus invaded. Stepping to the 



THE REDSKINS. 497 

front of the piazza, I made a sign for attention. The tramp- 
ing ceased all at once, and I had a profound silence for my 
speech. 

"You know me, all of you," I said, quietly I know, and I 
trust firmly ; " and you know, therefore, that I am the owner 
of this house and these lands. As such owner, I order every 
man among you to quit the place, and to go into the highway, 
or upon the property of some other person. Whoever remains, 
after this notice, will be a trespasser, and the evil done by a 
trespasser is doubly serious in the eyes of the law." 

I uttered these words loud enough to be heard by every body 
present, but I cannot pretend that they were attended by much 
success. The calico bundles turned toward each other, and 
there was an appearance of a sort of commotion, but the leaders 
composed the people, the omnipotent people in this instance, 
as they do in most others. The sovereignty of the mass is a 
capital thing as a principle, and once in a long while it evinces 
a great good in practice ; in a certain sense, it is always work- 
ing good, by holding a particular class of most odious and 
intolerable abuses in check ; but, as for the practice of every- 
day political management, their imperial majesties, the sove- 
reigns of America, of whom I happen to be one, have quite as 
little connection with the measures they are made to seem to 
demand, and to sustain, as the Nawab of Oude ; if the English, 
who are so disinterested as to feel a generous concern for the 
rights of mankind, whenever the great republic adds a few 
acres to the small paternal homestead, have left any such poten- 
tate in existence. 

So it was with the decision of the *' disguised and armed," 
on the occasion I am describing. They decided that no other 
notice should be taken of my summons to quit, than a con- 
temptuous yell, though they had to ascertain from their leaders 
what they had decided before they knew themselves. The 
shout was pretty general, notwithstanding, and it had one good 
effect ; that of satisfying the Injins themselves, that they had 
made a clear demonstration of their contempt of my authority, 



498 THE REDSKINS. 

whicli they fancied victory sufficient for tlie moment ; never- 
theless, the demonstration did not end exactly here. Cer- 
tain cries, and a brief dialogue, succeeded, which it may be well 
to record. 

'■'■King Littlepage," called out one, from among the " dis- 
guised and armed," "what has become of your throne? St. 
Andrew's meeting-'us' has lost its monarch's throne !" 

" His pigs have set up for great aristocrats of late ; presently 
they'll want to be patroons." 

" Hugh Littlepage, be a man; come down to a level with 
your fellow-citizens, and don't think yourself any better than 
other folks. You're but flesh and blood, a'ter all." 

*' Why don't you invite me to come and dine Avith you as 
well as priest Warren ? I can eat, as well as any man in tho 
country, and as much." 

" Yes, and he'll drmlc, too, Hugh Littlepage ; so provide your 
best liquor the day he's to be invited." 

All this passed for wit among the Injins, and among that 
portion of the " virtuous and honest and hard-working," who 
not only kept them on foot, but on this occasion kept them 
company also ; it having since been ascertained that about one- 
half of that band was actually composed of the tenants of the 
Ravensnest farms. I endeavored to keep myself cool, and suc- 
ceeded pretty well, considering the inducements there were to 
be angry. Argument with such men was out of the question 
— and knowing their numbers and physical superiority, they 
held my legal rights in contempt. What was probably worse 
than all, they knew that the law itself was administered by the 
people, and that they had little to apprehend, and did appre- 
hend virtually nothing from any of the pains and penalties it 
might undertake to inflict, should recourse be had to it at any 
future day. Ten or a dozen wily agents sent through the coun- 
try to circulate lies, and to visit the county town previously to, 
and during a trial, in order to raise a party that will act more 
or less directly on the minds of the jurors, with a newspaper or 
two to scatter untruths and prejudices, Avould at least be as 



THE KEDSKINS. 499 

effective, at the critical moment, as the law, the evidence, and 
the right. As for the judges, and their charges, they have lost 
most of their influence, under the operation of this nefarious 
system, and count but for very little in the administration of 
justice either at Nisi Prius or at Oyer Terminer. These are 
melancholy truths, that any man who quits his theories and 
descends into the arena of practice will soon ascertain to be 
such, to his wonder and alarm, if he be a novice and an honest 
man. A portion of this unhappy state of things is a conse- 
quence of the legislative tinkering that has destroyed one of the 
most healthful provisions of the common law, in prohibiting 
the judges to punish for contempt, unless for outrages commit- 
ted in open court. The press, in particular, now profits by this 
impunity, and influences the decision of nearly every case that 
can at all enlist public feeling. All these things men feel, and 
few who are wrong care for the law ; for those who are right, it 
is true, there is still some danger. My uncle Ro says America 
is no more like what America was in this respect twenty years 
since, than Kamtschatka is like Italy. For myself, I v/ish to 
state the truth ; exaggerating nothing, nor yet taking refuge in 
a dastardly concealment. 

Unwilling to be browbeaten on the threshold of my own 
door, I determined to say something ere I returned to my 
place. Men like these before me can never understand that 
silence proceeds from contempt ; and I fancied it best to make 
some sort of a reply to the speeches I have recorded, and to 
twenty more of the same moral calibre. Motioning for silence, 
T again obtained it. 

" I have ordered you to quit my lawn, in the character of its 
owner," I said, " and, by remaining, you make yourselves 
trespassers. As for what you have done to my pew, I should 
thank you for it, had it not been done in violation of the right ; 
for it was fully my intention to have that canopy removed as 
soon as the feeling about it had subsided. I am as much op- 
posed to distinctions of any sort in the house of God as any of 
you can be, and desire them not for myself, or any belonging 



500 THE REDSKINS. 

to me. I ask for nothing but equal rights with all ray fellow- 
citizens; that my property should be as much protected as 
theirs, but not more so. But, I do not conceive that you or 
any man has a right to ask to share in my world's goods any 
more than I have a right to ask to share in his ; that you can 
more justly claim a portion of my lands than I can claim a share 
in your cattle and crops. It is a poor rule that does not work 
both ways." 

" You're an aristocrat," cried one from among the Injins, 
" or you'd be willing to let other men have as much land as 
you've got yourself. You're a patroon ; and all patroons are 
aristocrats, and hateful," 

"An aristocrat," I answered, "is one of a few who wield 
political power. The highest birth, the largest fortune, the 
most exclusive association, would not make an aristocrat, with- 
out the addition of a narrow political power. In this country 
there are no aristocrats, because there is no narrow political 
power. There is, however, a spurious aristocracy which you 
do not recognize, merely because it does not happen to be in 
the hands of gentlemen. Demagogues and editors are your 
privileged classes, and consequently your aristocrats, and none 
others. As for your landlord aristocrats, listen to a true tale, 
which will satisfy you how far they deserve to be called an aris- 
tocracy. Mark ! what I now tell you is religious truth, and it 
deserves to be known far and near, wherever your cry of aris- 
tocracy reaches. There is a landlord in this state, a man of 
large means, who became liable for the debts of another to a 
considerable amount. At the very moment when his rents 
could not be collected, owing to your interference and the re- 
missness of those in authority to enforce the laws, the sheriff" 
entered his house, and sold its contents, in order to satisfy an 
execution against him ! There is American aristocracy for you, 
and I am sorry to add American justice, as justice has got to be 
administered among us." 

I was not disappointed in the effect of this narration of what 
is a sober truth. Wherever I have told it, it has confounded 



THE REDSKINS. 501 

even the most brawling demagogue, and momentarily revived 
in his breast some of those principles of right which God 
originally planted there. American aristocracy, in sooth? 
Fortunate is the gentleman that can otta.n even a reluctant and 
meagre justice. 



602 THE REDSKIN 5. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

" How far that little cardie throws hia beams, 
So shines a good deed in a naughty world." 

SlIAKSrEARR. 

T HAVE said that my narrative of the manner in which justice 
is sometimes meted out among us was not without its effect on 
even that rude band of selfish and envious rioters : rude, be- 
cause setting at naught reason and the law ; and selfish, because 
induced so to do by covetousness, and the desire to substitute 
the tenants for those whom they fancied to be better off" in the 
world than they were themselves. A profound stillness suc- 
ceeded ; and after the bundles of calico had whispered one 
with another for a moment or two, they remained quiet, seem- 
ingly indisposed, just then at least, to molest us any farther. I 
thought the moment favorable, and fell back to my old station, 
determined to let things take their own course. This change, 
and the profound stillness that succeeded, brought matters back 
to the visit of the Indians, and its object. 

During the whole time occupied by the advance of the *' In- 
jins," the men of the prairies and Susquesus had continued 
nearly as motionless as so many statues. It is true that the 
eyes of Flintyheart were on the invaders, but he managed to 
take good heed of them without betraying any undue uneasi- 
ness or care. Beyond this, I do affirm that I scarce noted a 
single sign of even vigilance among these extraordinary beings ; 
though Manytongues afterward gave me to understand that 
they knew very well what they were about; and then I could 
not be watching the red-men the whole time. Now that there 
was a pause, however, every body and thing seemed to revert 
to the original visit, as naturally as if no interruption had oc- 



THE REDS Iv INS. 503 

curred. Manytongues, by way of securing attention, called on 
the Injins, in an authoritative voice, to offer no inteiTuption to 
the proceedings of the chiefs, which had a species of religious 
sanctity, and was not to be too much interfered with, with 
impunity. 

" So long as you keep quiet, my warriors will not molest 
you," he added; "but if any man amongst you has ever been 
on the prer-ies, he must understand enough of the nature of a 
redskin to know that when he's in 'airnest he is in 'airnest. 
Men who are on a journey three thousand miles in length, don't 
turn aside for trifles, which is a sign that serious business has 
brought these chiefs here." 

Whether it was that this admonition produced an effect, or 
that curiosity influenced the " disguised and armed," or that 
they did not choose to proceed to extremities, or that all three 
considerations had their weight, is more than I can say ; but it 
is certain the whole band remained stationary, quiet and inter- 
ested observers of what now occurred, until an interruption 
took place, which will be related in proper time. Manytongues, 
who had posted himself near the centre of the piazza, to inter- 
pret, now signified to the chiefs that they might pursue their 
own purposes in tranquillity. After a decent pause, the game 
young warrior who had "called up" Jaaf, in the first instance, 
now rose again, and with a refinement in politeness that would 
be looked for in vain in most of the deliberative bodies of 
civilized men, adverted to the circumstance that the negro had 
not finished his address, and might have matter on his rnind of 
which he wished to be delivered. This was said simply, but 
distinctly ; and it was explained to the negro by Manytongues, 
who assured him not one among all the chiefs would say a 
word until the last person " on his legs" had an opportunity of 
finishing his address. This reserve marks the deportment of 
those whom we call savages ; men that have their own fierce, 
and even ruthless customs, beyond all controversy, but who 
possess certain other excellent qualities that do not appear to 
flourish in the civilized state. 



504 THE REDSKINS. 

It was witli a good deal of difficulty that we got old Jaaf up 
again ; for, though a famous grumbler, he was not much of an 
orator. As it was understood that no chief would speak, how- 
ever, ilntil the black had exhausted his right, my dear Patt had 
to go, and laying one of her ivory-looking hands on the shoulder 
of the grim old negro, persuade him to rise and finish his 
speech. He knew her, and she succeeded ; it being worthy 
of remark, that while this aged black scarce remembered for 
an hour what occurred, confounding dates fearfully, often speak- 
ing of my grandmother as Miss Dus, and as if she were still a 
girl, he knew every one of the family then living, and honored 
and loved us accordingly, at the very moments he would fancy 
we had been present at scenes that occurred when our great- 
grand-parents were young people. But to the speech — 

"What all them fellow want, bundle up in calico, like so 
many squaw?" growled out Jaaf, as soon as on his legs, and 
looking intently at the Injins, ranged as they were m a line four 
deep, quite near the piazza. "Why you let 'em come, Masser 
Hugh, Masser Hodge, Masser Malbone, Masser Mordaunt — 
which you be here, now, I don't know, dcre so many^and it so 
hard to 'member ebbery t'ing ? Oh ! I so ole ! — I do won'er 
when my time come ! Dere Sus, too, he good for nuttin' at 
all. Once he great walker — ^great warrior — great hunter — 
pretty good fellow for redskin ; but he quite wore out. Don't 
sec much use why he hb any longer. Injin good for nuttin' 
when he can't hunt. Some time he make basket and broom ; 
but they uses better broom now, and Injin lose dat business. 
What dcm calico debbil want here, ch. Miss Patty ? Dere red- 
skin, too — two, free, four — all come to see Sus. Won'er nio-- 
ger don't come to see me ! Ole black good as ole red-man. 
Where dem fellow get all dat calico, and put over deir faces ? 
Masser Hodge, what all dat mean ?" 

"These are anti-renters, Jaaf," my uncle coldly answered. 
" Men that wish to own your Master Hugh's farms, and re- 
lieve him from the trouble of receiving any more rent. They 
cover their faces, I presume, to conceal their blushes, tho 



THE 11 E D S K I N S . 505 

modesty of their nature ssiuking under the sense of their own 
generosity." 

Although it is not very probable that Jaaf understood the 
whole of the speech, he comprehended a part ; for, so thor- 
oughly had his feelings been aroused on this subject, a year or 
two earlier, when his mind was not quite so much dimmed as 
at present, that the impression made was indelible. The effect 
of what my uncle said, nevertheless, was most apparent among 
the Injins, who barely escaped an outbreak. My uncle has 
been blamed for imprudence, in having resorted to irony on 
such an occasion ; but, after all, I am far from sure good did 
not come of it. Of one thing, I am certain ; nothing is ever 
gained by temporizing on the subject of principles ; that which 
is right, had better always be freely said, since it is from the 
sacrifices that are made of the truth, as concession to expedi- 
ency, that error obtains one-half its power. Policy, or fear, 
or some other motive, kept the rising ire of the Injins under, 
however, and no interruption occurred, in consequence of this 
speeoh. 

" What you want here, fellow ?" demanded Jaaf, rougldy, 
and speaking as a scold would break out on some intrusive 
boy. " Home wid ye ! — get out ! Oh ! I do grow so ole ! — T 
wish I was as I was when young for your sake, you varmint! 
What ybu want wid Masser Hugh's land ? — why dat you t'ink 
to get gentle'em's property, eh ? 'Member 'e time when your 
fadder come creepin' and beggin' to Masser Morder, to ask just 
little farm to lib on, and be he tenant, and try to do a little for 
he family, like ; and now come, in calico bundle, to tell ?«y 
Masser Hugh dat he shan't be masser of he own land. Who 
1/ou, I want to know, to come and talk to gentle'em in dis poor 
fashion ? Go home — get out — oil' wid you, or you hear what 
you don't like." 

Now, while there was a good deal of "nigger" in this argu- 
ment, it was quite as good as that which was sometimes ad- 
vanced in support of the " spirit of the institutions," more 
especially that part of the latter which is connected with " aris- 
22 



506 THE REDSKINS. 

tocracy" and " poodle usages. " The negro liad an idea that 
all his "massers," old and young, were better than the rest of 
the human race ; while the advocates of the modem improve- 
ment seem to think that every right is concentrated in the lower 
Lalf of the great *' republican family." Every gentleman is no 
gentleman ; and every blaclcgnard, a gentleman, for one postu- 
late of their great social proposition ; and, what is more, every 
man in the least elevated above the mass, unless so elevated by 
the mass, who consequently retain the power to pull him down 
again, has no rights at all, when put in opposition to the crav- 
ings of numbers. So, that after all, the negro was not mucli 
more out of the way, in his fashion of viewing things, than the 
philosophers of industrious honesty ! Happily, neither the 
reasoning of one of these parties, nor that of the other, has 
much influence on the actual state of things. Facts are facts, 
and the floundei'ings of envy and covetousness can no more 
shut men's eyes to their existence, and prove that black is 
white, than Jaaf s long-enduring and besetting notion that the 
Littlepages are the great of the earth, can make us more than 
what we certainly are. I have recorded the negro's speech, 
simply to show some, who listen only to the misstatements and 
opinions of those who wish to become ownei-s of other men's 
farms, that there are two sides to the question ; and, in the 
way of argument, I do not sec but one is quite as good as the 
other. 

One could hardly refrain from smiling, notwithstanding the 
seriousness of the circumstances in which we were placed, at 
the gravity of the Indians during the continuance of this queer 
episode. Not one of them all rose, turned round, or manifested 
the least impatience, or even curiosity. The presence of two 
hundred armed men, bagged in calico, did not induce them to 
look about them, though their previous experience with this 
gallant corps may possibly have led them to hold it somewhat 
cheap. 

The time had now come for the Indians to carry out the 
mj^in design of their visit to Ravcnsnest, and Prairiefire slowly 



THE REDSKINS, 



507 



arose to speak. The reader will understand that Manytongues 
translated, sentence by sentence, all that passed, he being expert 
in the ditferent dialects of the tribes, some of which had car- 
ried that of the Onondagoes to the prairies. In this particular, 
the interpreter was a somewhat remarkable man, not only ren- 
dering what was said readily and without hesitation, but ener- 
getically and with considerable power. It may be well to add, 
however, that in writing out the language I may have used 
English expressions that arc a little more choice, in some in- 
stances, than those given by this uneducated person. 

"Father," commenced Prairiefire, solemnly, and with a 
dignity that it is not usual to find connected with modern 
oratory ; the gestures he used being few, but of singular force 
and significance — " Father — the minds of your children are 
heavy. They have travelled over a. long and thorny path, with 
moccasins worn out, and feet that were getting sore ; but their 
minds were light. They hoped to look at the face of the Up- 
right Onondago, when they got to the end of the path. They 
have come to the end of that path, and they see him. He 
looks as they expected he would look. He is like an oak that 
lightning may burn, and the snows cover with moss, but which 
a thousand storms and a hundred winters cannot strip of its 
leaves. He looks like the oldest oak in the forest. He is very 
grand. It is pleasant to look on him. When we see him, we 
see a chief who knew our fathers' fathers, and their fathers' 
fathers. That is a long time ago. He is a tradition, and 
knows all things. There is only one thing about him, that 
ought not to be. He was born a red-man, but has lived so long 
with the pale-faces, that when he does go away to the happy 
hunting-grounds, we are afraid the good spirits will mistake 
him for a pale-face, and point out the wrong path. Should 
this happen, the red-men would lose the Upright of the Onon- 
dagoes, forever. It should not be. My father does not wish 
it to be. He will think better. He will come back among his 
children, and leave his wisdom and advice among the people of 
his own color. I ask liiin to do this. 



508 THE REDSKINS. 

" It is a long path, now, to tlie wigwams of red men. It was 
not so once, but the path has been stretched. It is a veiy long 
path. Our young men travel it often, to visit the graves of their 
fathers, and they know how long it is. My tongue is not 
crooked, but it is straight ; it will not sing a false song — it tells 
my father the truth. The path is very long. But the pale- 
faces are wonderful ! What have they not done ? What will 
they not do ? They have made canoes and sledges that fly 
swift as the birds. The deer could not catch them. They 
have wings of fire, and never weary. Tliey go when men 
sleep. The path is long, but it is soon travelled Avith such 
wings. My father can make the journey, and not think of 
weariness. Let him try it. His children will take good care 
of him. Uncle Sam will give him venison, and he will want 
nothing. Then, when he starts for the happy hunting- 
grounds, he will not mistake the path, and will live with red- 
men forever." 

A long, solemn pause succeeded this speech, which was 
delivered with great dignity and emphasis. I could see that 
Susquesus was touched with this request, and at the homage 
paid his character, by having tribes from the prairies — tribes of 
which he had never even heard through traditions in his younger 
days — come so far to do justice to his character ; to request 
him to go and die in their midst. It is true, he must have 
known that the fragments of the old New York tribes had mostly 
found their way to those distant regions ; nevertheless, it could 
not but be soothing to learn that even they had succeeded in 
making so strong an impression in his favor, by means of their 
representations. Most men of his great age would have been 
insensible to feelings of this sort. Such, in a great degree, was 
the fact with Jaaf ; but such was not the case with the Onon- 
dago. As he said in his former speech to his visitors, his mind 
dwelt more on the scenes of his youth, and native emotions 
came fresher to his spirit, now, than they had done even in 
middle age. All that remained of his youtliful fire seemed to 
be awakened, and he did not appear that morning, except when 



THE REDSKINS. 509 

compcilccl to walk and in liis outward person, to be a man wlio 
had seen much more than his threescore years and ten. 

As a matter of course, now that the chiefs from the prairies 
had so distinctly made known the great object of their visit, 
and so vividly portrayed their desire to receive back, into ihe 
bosom of their communities, one of their color and race, it 
remained for the Onondago to let the manner in which he 
viewed this proposition be known. The profound stillness that 
reigned around him must have assured the old Indian how 
anxiously his reply was expected. It extended even to the 
" disguised and armed," who, by this time, seemed to be as 
much absorbed in the interest of this curious scene as any of 
us who occupied the piazza. I do believe that anti-rentism 
was momentarily forgotten by all parties — tenants, as well as 
landlords. Landlords as well as tenants. I dare say, Prairicfire 
had taken his seat three minute ere Susqucsus arose ; during all 
which time, the deep stillness, of which I have spoken, pre- 
vailed. 

" My children," answered the Onondago, whose voice pos- 
sessed just enough of the hollow tremulousuess of age to render 
it profoundly impressive, but who spoke so distinctly as to be 
heard by all present — "My children, w^e do not know Avhat 
will happen when we are young — all is young, too, that we see. 
It is when we grow old, that all grows old with us. Youth is 
full of hope ; but age is full of eyes ; it sees things as they are. 
I have lived in my wigwam alone, since the Great Spirit called 
out the name of my mother, and she hurried away to the happy 
hunting-grounds to cook venison for my father, who was called 
first. My father was a great warrior. You did not know him. 
lie was killed by the Dclawares, more than a hundred winteiB 
ago. 

"I have told you the truth. When my mother went to 
cook venison for her husband, I was left alone in my wigwam." 

Ilore a long pause succeeded, during which Susquesus ap- 
peared to be struggling with his own feelings, though he con- 
tinued erect, like a tree firmly rooted. As fur the chiefs, most 



510 THE REDSKINS. 

of them inclined tlieir bodies forward to listen, so intense was 
their interest ; here and there one of their number explaining 
in soft guttural tones, certain • passages in the speech to some 
other Indians, who did not fttlly comprehend the dialect in 
which they were uttered. After a time, Susquesus proceeded : 
" Yes, I lived alone. A young squaw ivas to have entered my 
wigwam and staid there. She never came. She wished to 
enter it, but she did not. Another warrior had her promise, 
and it was right that she should keep her word. Her mind 
was heavy at first, but she lived to feel that it is good to be 
just. No squaw has ever lived in any wigwam of mine. I 
did not think ever to be a father : but see how different it has 
turned out ! I am now the father of all red-men ! Every In- 
dian warrior is my son. Yoii, are my children ; I will own you 
when we meet on the pleasant paths beyond the hunts you 
make to-day. You will call me father, and I will call you sons. 

" That will be enough. You ask me to go on the long path 
with you, and leave my bones on the prairies. I have heard 
of those hunting-grounds. Our ancient traditions told us of 
them. ' Toward the rising sun,' they said, * is a great salt lake, 
and toward the setting sun, great lakes of sweet water. Across 
the great salt lake is a distant country, filled with pale-faces, 
who live in large villages, and in the midst of cleared fields. 
Toward the setting sun were large cleared fields, too, but no 
pale -faces, and few villages.' Some of our Avise men thought 
these fields were the fields of red-men following the pale-faces 
round after the sun ; some thought they were fields in which 
the pale-faces were, following them. I think this was the truth. 
The red-man cannot hide himself in any corner Avhere the pale- 
face will not find him. The Great Spirit will have it so. It is 
his will ; the red-man must submit. 

•■ My sons, the journey you ask me to make is too long for 
old age. I have lived with the pale-faces, until one-half of my 
heart is white ; though the other half is red. One-half is filled 
with the traditions of ray fathers, the other half is filled with 
the wisdom of the stranger. I cannot cut my heart in two 



THE REDSKINS. 511 

pieces. I must all go with you, or all stay licrc. The body 
must stay witli the heart, and both must remain -where tliey 
have now dwelt so long. I thank you, my children, but what 
you wish can never come to pass. 

'* You see a veiy old man, but you see a very unsettled mind. 
There are red traditions and pale-face traditions. Both speak 
of the Great Spirit, but only one speak of his Son. A soft voice 
has been whispering in my ear, lately, much of the Son of God, 
Do they speak to you in that way on the prairies ? I know 
not Avhat to thinlc I wish to think wlxat is right ; but it is not 
easy to umlerstand." 

Here Susquesus paused ; then he took his seat, Avith the air 
of one Avho was at a loss how to explain his own feelings. 
Prairiefire waite<l a i>sspectful time fur him to contLimc his ad- 
dress, but perceiving that he rose not, he stood up himself, to 
request a further explanation. 

"My father has spoken wisdom," lie said, "and his children 
liave listened. They have not heard enough ; they wish to hear 
more. If my father is tired of standing, he can sit ; his chil- 
dren do not ask him to stand. They ask to know where that 
soft voice came from, and what it said ?" 

Susquesus did 'not rise, now, but he prepared for a reply. 
Mr. Warrcu was standing quite near him, and Mary was lean- 
ing on his arm. lie signed for the father to advance a step or 
two, in complying with which, the parent brought forth the 
unconscious child also. ' 

" See, my children," resumed Susquesus. " Tiiis is a great 
medicine of the pale-fiices. lie talks always of the Great Spirit, 
and of liis goodness to men. It is his business to talk of the 
happy hunting-ground, and of good and bad pale-faces. I can- 
not tell you whether he does any good or not. Many such talk 
of these things constantly among the whites, but I can see little 
change, and I have lived among them, now, more tlian eighty 
winters and summers — yes, near ninety. The land is changed 
so much that I hardly know it ; but the people do not alter. 
Sec. there ; here are men — pale-faces in calico bags. Wliy do 



512 THE KED SKINS. 

lliev run abont, and dislionor tlic rcd-man by calling thein>clvc3 
Injins ? I will tell you." 

There Avas now a decided movement among the " virtuous 
and industrious," though a strong desire to hear the old man 
out, prevented any violent interruption at that time. I ques- 
tion if ever men listened more intently, than we all lent our 
faculties now, to ascertain what the Upright of the Onondagocs 
thought of anti-rentism. I received the opinions he expressed 
with the gi'catcr alacrity, because I knew he was a living witness 
of most of what he related, and because I was clearly of opinion 
that he knew quite as much of the subject as many who rose 
in the legislative halls to discuss the subject. 

" These men are not wamors," continued Susquesus. " They 
hide their faces and they caiTy rifles, but they frighten none 
])ut the squaws and pappooses. When they take a scalp, it is 
l>t'causc they are a hundred, and their enemies one. Tliey are 
not braves. Why do they come at all ? What do they want ? 
They want the land of this young chief. My children, all the 
land, far and near, was ours. Tlie pale-faces came with their 
papers, and made laws, and said * It is well ! We want this 
land. Hiere is plenty farther west for you red-men. Go there, 
and hunt, and fish, and plant your corn, and ISave us this land.' 
Our red brethren did as they were asked to do. The pale-faces 
had it as they wished. They made laws, and sold the land, as 
the red-men sell the skins of beavers. When the money was 
paid, each pale-face got a deed, and thought ho owned all that 
he had paid for. But the wicked spirit that drove out the red- 
man is now about to drive off the pale-face chiefs. It is the 
same devil, and it is no other. lie wanted land then, and he 
wants land now. There is one difference, and it is this. When 
the pale-face drove off the red-man there was no treaty between 
them. They had not smoked together, and given wampum, 
and signed a paper. If they had, it w^as to agree that the red- 
man should go away, and the pale-face stay. When the pale- 
face drives off the pale-face, there is a treaty ; they have smoked 
together, and given wampum, and signed a paper. This is the 



Til E UE D SK I N S . 613 

clirtVrciicc. Indian will keep his word with Indian ; palc-facc 
will not keep his word with pale-face." 

Susquesus stopped speaking, and the eye of every chief was 
immediately, and for the first time that morning, turned on the 
'• disguised and armed" — the " virtuous and hard-working." 
A slight movement occurred in the band, but no outbreak took 
place ; and, in the midst of the sensation that existed, Eagles- 
flight slowly arose. The native dignity and case of his manner 
more than compensated for his personal appearance, and he 
now seemed to us all one of those by no means unusual in- 
stances of the power of the mind to overshadow, and even to 
obliterate, the imperfections of the body. Before the effect of 
what Susquesus had just said Avas lost, this eloquent and much- 
practised orator began his address. Ilis utterance was highly 
impressive, being so deliberate, with pauses so well adjusted, 
as to permit Manytongucs to give full effect to each syllable he 
translated. 

" My brethren," said Eaglesflight, addressing the Injins and 
the other auditors, rather than any one else, "you have heard 
the words of age. They are the words of wisdom. They arc 
the words of truth. The Upright of the Onondagoes cannot lie. 
He never could. The Great Spirit made him a just Indian ; 
and, as the Great Spirit makes an Indian, so he is. My breth- 
ren, I will tell you his story ; it Avill be good for t/ou to hear it. 
We have heard your story ; first from the interpreter, noAV 
from Susquesus. It is a bad story. We were made sorrowful 
when we heard it. What is right, should be done ; what is 
wrong, should not be done. There are bad red-men, and good 
red-men ; there are bad pale-faces, and good pale-faces. The 
good red-men and good pale-faces do what is right ; the bad, 
what is wrong. It is the same With both. The Great Spirit 
of the Indian and the Great Spirit of the white man arc alike ; 
so are the w'icked spirits. There is no difference in this. 

"My brethren, a red-man knows in his heart when he does 
what is right, and when he does what is wrong. He docs not 
want to be fold. lie tells hiniself. llis face is red, and he 



614 THE REDSKINS. 

cannot chmigc color. Tlic paint is too tliick. When he tolls 
himself how much wrong he has done, lie goes into the bushes, 
and is sorry. When he comes out, he is a better man. 

" My brethren, it is different with a pale-face. He is white, 
and uses no stones for paint. "When he tells himself that he 
has done wrong, his face can paint itself. Every body can see 
that he is ashamed. He does not go into the bushes ; it would 
do no good. He paints himself so quickly that there is no 
time. He hides his face in a calico bag. This is not good, 
but it is better than to be pointed at with the finger. 

" My brethren, the Upright of the Onondagoes has never 
run into the bushes because he was ashamed. There has bccu 
no need of it. He has not told himself he was wicked. He 
has not put his face in a calico bag ; he cannot paint himself, 
like a pale-face. 

" My brethren, listen ; I Avill tell you a story. A long time 
ago every thing was very diftcrent here. The clearings were 
small, and the woods large. Then the red-men were many, 
and the pale-faces few. Now it is different. You know how 
it is, to-day. 

" My brethren, I am talking of what Avas a hundred winters 
since. We were not born, then. Susquesus was then young, 
and strong, and active. He could run with the deer, and battle 
with the bear. He was a chief, because his fathers were chiefs 
before him. The Onondagoes knew him and loved him. Not 
a war-path was opened, that he was not the first to go on it. 
No other warrior could count so many scalps. No young chief 
had so many listeners at the council-fire. The Onondagoes 
were proud that they had so great a chief, and one so young. 
They thought he would live a long time, and they should see 
him, and be proud of him for fifty winters more. 

" My brethren, Susquesus has lived twice fifty winters lon- 
ger ; but he has not lived them with his own people. No ; he 
has been a stranger among the Onondagoes all that time. The 
warriors he knew are dead. The wigwams that he went into, 
have fallen to the earth Avith time ; the graves have crumbled, 



THE REDSKINS. 515 

and the sons' sons of his companions walk heavily with old ago, 
Susqucsus is there ; you sec him ; he sees you. He can walk ; 
ho speaks ; he sees : he is a living tradition ! Why is this so ? 
The Great Spirit has not called him away. He is a just Indian, 
and it is good that he be kept here, that all red-men may know 
how much he is loved. So long as he stays no red-man need 
want a calico bag. 

" My brethren, the younger days of Susqucsus, the Trackless, 
were happy. When he had seen twenty winters, he was talked 
of in all the neighboring tribes. The scalp notches were a 
great many. When he had seen thirty winters, no chief of the 
Onondagoes had more honor, or more power. He was first 
among the Onondagoes. There was but one ftiult in him. He 
did not take a squaw into his wigwam. Death comes when he 
is not looked for ; so does marriage. At length my father be- 
came like other men, and wished for a squaw. It happened in 
tliis way. 

"My brethren, red-men have laws, as well as the palc-fuces. 
If there is a difference, it is in keeping those laws. A law of 
the red-men gives every warrior his prisoners. If he bring off 
a warrior, he is his ; if a squaw, she is his. This is right. He 
can take the scalp of the warrior ; he can take the squaw into 
his wigwam, if it be empty. A warrior, named Waterfowl, 
brought in a captive girl , of the Dclawares. She was called 
Ouithwith, and was handsomer than the humming-bird. The 
Waterfowl had his ears open, and heard how beautiful she was. 
He watched long to take her, and he did take her. She was 
his, and he thought to take her into his wigwam when it was 
empty. Three moons passed, before that could be. In the 
mean time, Susqucsus saw Ouithwith, and Ouithwith saw Sus- 
(jucsus. Their eyes were never off each other. He was tho 
noblest moose of the woods, in her eyes ; she was the spotted 
fawn, in his. He wished to ask her to his wigwam ; she wished 
iio go. 

"My brethren, Susqucsus was a great chief; the Waterfowl 
was only a warrior. One had power and authority, the other 



516 THE REDSKINS. 

Lad ncitlicr. But there is autliority among red-men beyond 
that of the chief. It is the red-man's law. Ouithwith belonged 
to the Waterfowl, and she did not belong to Susquesus. A 
great council was held, and men differed. Some said that so 
useful a chief, so renowned a Avarrior as Susquesus, ought to be 
the husband of Ouithwith, some said her husband ought to be the 
Waterfowl, for he had brought her out from among the Dela- 
wares. A great difficulty arose on this question, and the whole 
six nations took part in it. Many warriors were for the law, 
but most were for Susquesus. Tliey loved him, and thought 
he Avould make the best husband for tlie Delaware girl. For 
six moons the quaiTcl thickened, and a dark cloud gathered 
over the path that led among the tribes. Wamors who had 
taken scalps in company, looked at each other, as the panther 
looks at the deer. Some were ready to dig up the hatchet for 
the law ; some for the pride of the Onoirdagoes, and the hum- 
ming-bird of the Delawares. The squaws took sides with Sus- 
quesus. Far and near, they met to talk together, and they 
even threatened to light a council-fire, and smoke around it, 
like warriors and chiefs. 

" Brethren, things dbuld not stand so another moon. Ouith- 
with must go into the wigwam of the Waterfowl, or into the 
wigwam of Susquesus. The squaws said she should go into 
the wigwam of Susquesus ; and they met together, and led her 
to his door. As she went along that path, Ouithwith looked ■ 
at her feet with her eyes, but her heart leaped like the bound- 
ing fawn, when playing in the sun. She did not go in at the 
door. The Waterfowl was there, and forbade it. He had 
come alone ; his friends were but few, while the heads and 
arms of the friends of Susquesus were as plenty as the benies 
on the bush. 

" My brethren, that command of the Waterfowl's was like a 
wall of rock before the door of the Trackless's wigwam. Ouith- 
with could not go in. The eyes of Susquesus said ' no,' while 
his heart said ' yes.' He offered the AVatcrfowl his rifle, his 
powder, all his skins, his wigwam ; but Waterfowl would rather 



T]1E REDSKINS 51*7 

have liis prisoner, and answered, *no.' 'Take my scalp,' he 
said ; ' you are strong and can do it ; but do not take my 
prisoner.' 

"My brethcen, Susquesus then stood up, in the midst of the 
tribe, and opened his mind. ' The Waterfowl is right,' he said. 
' She is his, by our laws ; and what the laws of the red-man 
say, the red-man must do. When the warrior is about to be 
tormented, and he asks for time to go home and see his friends, 
does lie not come back at the day and hour agreed on ? Shall 
I, Susquesus, the first chief of the Onondagoes, be stronger 
than the law I No — my foce would be forever hid in the 
bushes, did that come to pass. It should not be — it shall not 
be. Take her. Waterfowl ; she is yours. Deal kindly by her, foi 
she is as tender as the wren when it first quits the nest. I must 
go into the woods for a while. When my mind is at peace, 
Susquesus will return.' 

"Brethren, the stillness in that tribe, while Susquesus was 
getting his rifle, and his horn, Jind his best moccasins, and his 
tomahawk, was like that which comes in the darkness. Men 
saw him go, but none dare follow. He left no trail, and he 
was called the Trackless. His mind was never at peace, for he 
never came back. Summer and winter came and went often 
before the Onondagoes heard of him among the pale-faces. AH 
that time the Waterfowl lived with Ouithwith in his wigwam, 
and she bore him children. The chief was gone, but the law 
remained. Go you, men of the pale-faces, who hide your 
shame in calico bags, and do the same. Follow the example 
of an Indian — be honest, like the Upright of the Onondagoes !" 

While this simple narrative was drawing to a close, I could 
detect the signs of great uneasiness among the leaders of the 
" calico bags." The biting comparison between themselves and 
their own course, and an Indian and his justice, Avas intolerable 
;,o them, for nothing has more conduced to the abuses connected 
with anti-rentism than the wide-spread delusion that prevails in 
the land concerning the omnipotency of the masses. The error 
h deeply rooted which persuades men that fallible parts can 



518 THE REDSKINS. 

make an infallible whole. It was offensive to their self-conceit, 
and menacing to their success. A murmur ran through the 
assembly, and a shout followed. The Injins rattled their rifles, 
most relying on intimidation to effect their purpose ; but a few 
seemed influenced by a worse intention, and I have never 
doubted that blood would have been shed in the next minute, 
the Indians now standing to their arms, had not the sheriff of 
the county suddenly appeared on the piazza, with Jack Dun- 
ning at his elbow. This unexpected apparition produced a 
pause, during which the " disguised and armed" fell back some 
twenty yards, and the ladies rushed into the house. As for my 
uncle and myself, wo were as much astonished as any there at 
this interruption. 



THE KEDS KINS. 519 



CHAPTER XXX. 

" strong sense, deep feeling, passions strong, 
A hate of tyrant and of knave, 
A love of right, a scorn of wrong, 
Of coward and of slave." 

nALLF.cK''s "Wild Eosb of Alloway. 

Altiiough experience has shown that the appearance of a 
sheriff is by no means a pledge of the appearance of a friend of 
the law in this anti-rent movement, in our instance the fact 
happened to be so. It was known to the " disguised and armed" 
that this functionary was disposed to do his duty.* One of 
the rank absurdities into which democracy has fallen, and democ- 
racy is no more infallible than individual democrats, has been 
to make the officers of the militia, and the sheriffs of counties, 
elective. The consequences arc, that the militia is converted 
into a farce, and the execution of the laws in a particular county 
is very much dependent on the pleasure of that county to have 
them executed or not. The last is a capital arrangement for 
the resident debtor, for instance, though absent creditors arc 
somewhat disposed to find fault. But all this is of no great 
moment, since the theories for laws and governments in vogue 
just now, are of such a character as would render laws and gov- 

♦ The editor may as well say here, that, for obvious reasons, the name-i, counties, 
etc., used in these manuscripts arc feigned, the real localities being close enough to 
those mentioned for the double purposes of truth and fiction. As one of the " honor- 
able gentlemen" of the legislature has quoted our references to '■'■ pravinciaV feelings 
and notions, with a magnificence that proves how thoroughly lie is a man of the world 
himself, we will tell all the rest of the human race, who may happen to road this book, 
tliat we have made this ezplanation lest that comprehensive view of things, which has 
nithorto been so eager, because a street and a house are named in the pages of a fiction, 
to suppose that every body is to believe they know the very Individual who dwelt in 
it, should fancy that our allusions are to tliis or that particular functionary.— Editor, 



620 THE REDSKINS. 

crnmcnts quite unnecessary at all, were tbcy founded in truth. 
Restraints of all kinds can only be injurious Avlien tliey are im- 
posed on perfection ! 

The instant the commotion commenced, and the ladies fled, 
I took Seneca and his fellow-prisoner by the arm, and led them 
into the library. This I did, conceiving it to be unfair to keep 
prisoners in a situation of danger. This I did, too, Avithout 
reflecting in the least on any thing but the character of the act. 
Returning to the piazza immediately, I was not missed, and 
was a witness of all that passed. 

As has been intimated, this particular sheriff was known to 
be unfavorable to the anti-rent movement, and, no one sup- 
posing he would appear in the midst unsupported, in such a 
scene, the Injins fell back, thus arresting the danger of an im- 
mediate collision. It has since been privately intimated to me, 
that some among them, after hearing the narrative of Eagles- 
flight, really felt ashamed that a redskin should have a more 
lively sense of justice than a white man. Whatever may be 
said of the hardships of the tenants, and of "poodle usages," 
and of "aristocracy," and "fat hens," by the leaders in this 
matter, it by no means follows that those leaders believe in their 
own theories and arguments. On the contrary, it is generally 
the case with such men, that they keep themselves quite free 
from the excitement that it is their business to awaken in others, 
resembling the celebrated John Wilkes, who gravely said to 
George III., in describing the cliaractcr of a fonner co-operator 
in agitation, "//e was a Wilkesite, sir; /never Avas." 

The unexpected appearance of Dunning, the offending agent, 
too, was not without its effect — for they who were behind the 
curtains found it difficult to believe that he would dare to show 
himself at Ravensnest without a suflScient support. Those who 
thought thus, however, did not know Jack Dunning. He had 
a natural and judicious aversion to being tarred and feathered, 
it is true ; but, when it was necessary to expose himself, no 
man did it more freely. The explanation of his unlooked-for 
arrival hi simply this. 



THE REDSKliNS. 521 

fncasy at our manner of visiting Ravensncst, tliis tinist- 
wortliy friend, after tlie delay of a day or tAvo, determined to 
follow us. On reacliing the county he heard of the firing of 
the barn, and of the attempt on the house, and. went in quest 
of the sheriff without a moment's delay. As the object of Dun- 
ning was to get the ladies out of the lion's den, he did not wait 
for the summoning of the^wsse comitatus ; but, hiring a dozen 
resolute fellows, they were armed, and all set out in a body for 
the Nest. When within a mile or two of the house, the rumor 
reached the party that we were besieged ; and it became expe- 
dient to have recourse to some manoeu\Ting, in order to throw 
succor into the garrison. Dunning was familiar with all the 
windings and turnings of the place, having passed many a month 
at the Nest with my uncle and father, both as man and boy, 
and he knew the exact situation of the cliff, court, and of the 
various peculiar features of the place. Among other arrange- 
ments that had been made of late years, a door had been opened 
at the end of the long gallery which led through one of the 
wings, and a flight of steps been built against the rocks, by 
means of which certain paths and walks that meandered through 
the meadows and followed the windings of the stream might be 
reached. Dunning determined to attempt an ascent from this 
quarter, trusting to make himself heard by some one within, 
should he find the door fastened. Every thing succeeded to 
liis wishes — the cook alone, of all the household, being at her 
post in the other wing, and seeing him the instant he presented 
himself on the upper part of the steps. Jack Dunning's face 
was so well known at the Nest, that the good woman did not 
hesitate a moment about admitting him, and he thus penetrated 
into the buildings, followed by all his party. The last he kept 
concealed by sending them into the chambers, while he and 
the sheriff drew near the door, and heard most of the speech of 
Ivuglcsflight, the attention of every body being given to the 
iKiirativc. The reader knows the rest. 

I might as well say at once, however, that Opportunity, who, 
by her position, had seen the entrance of Dunning and his 



622 THE REDSKINS. 

party, no sooner found herself alone with the prisoners, than 
she unbound them, and showed them the means of flight, by 
the same passage, door and steps. At least, such has been my 
supposition, for the sister has never been questioned on the sub- 
ject. Seneca and his co-rascal vanished, and have not since 
been seen in our part of the country. In consequence of the 
flight, no one has ever complained of either for arson. The 
murder of Steele, the deputy-sheriff of Delaware, has given a 
check to the " Injin" system, and awakened a feeling in the 
coxmtry that was not to be resisted, in that form at least, by 
men engaged in a scheme so utterly opposed to the first princi- 
ples of honesty as anti-rentism. 

When I regained the piazza, after thrusting Seneca into the 
library, the Injins had fallen back to the distance of twenty or 
thirty yards from the piazza, in evident confusion ; while the 
Indians, cool and collected, stood to their arms, watchful as 
crouching panthers, but held in hand by the calmness with 
which their leaders watched the progress of events. The 
sheriff now required the first to disperse, as violators of the law ; 
with the penalties of which he menaced them, in a voice sufli- 
ciently clear and distinct to make itself audible. There was a 
moment during which the Injins seemed undecided. They had 
come with the full intent to inflict on my uncle and myself the 
punishment of the tar-bucket, with the hope of frightening us 
into some sort of a compromise ; the cowardly expedient of a 
hundred men's attacking and annoying one being particularly 
in favor with a certain class of those ultra-friends of liberty, 
who fancy that they alone possess all the public virtue of the 
nation, which public virtue justifies any of their acts. All of a 
sudden, the entire body of these virtuous citizens, who found it 
necessary to hide their blushes beneath calico, fell rapidly back ; 
observing a little order at first, which soon degenerated, how- 
ever, into confusion, and shortly after into a downright, scam- 
pering flight. The fact was, that Dunning's men began to 
show themselves at the windows of the chambers, thrusting 
muskets and rifles out before them, and the *' disguised and 



THE REDSKINS. 523 

armed, ' as has invariably been the case in the anti-rent dis- 
turbances, exhibited a surprising facility at the retreat. If he 
is " thrice-armed who hath his quarrel just," ten times is he a 
coward -who hath his quarrel unjust. This is the simple solu- 
tion of the cowardice that has been so generally shown by those 
who have been engaged in this " Injin" warfare ; causing 
tAventy to chase one, secret attempts on the lives of sentinels, 
and all the other violations of manly feeling that have disgraced 
the proceedings of the heroes. 

As soon as released from all immediate apprehension on the 
score of the Injius, we had time to attend to the Indians. The 
warriors gazed after those who were caricaturing their habits, 
and most of all their spirit, Avith silent contempt ; and Prairiefirc, 
who spoke a little English, said to me with emphasis, " Poor 
Injin — poor tribe — run away from own whoop !" This was 
positively every syllable the men of the prairies deigned to 
bestow on these disturbers of the public peace, the agents of 
covetousness, Avho prowl about at night, like wolves, ready to 
seize the stray lamb, but are quick to sneak off at the growl of 
the mastiff. One cannot express himself in terms too harsh of 
such wretches, who in no instance have manifested a solitary 
spark of the true spirit of freemen ; having invariably quailed 
before authority when that authority has assumed in the least 
the aspect of its power, and as invariably trampled it underfoot, 
whenever numbers put danger out of the question. 

Old Susquesus had been a quiet observer of all that passed. 
He knew the nature of the disturbance, and understood every 
thine: material that was connected with the outbreaks. As soon 
as order was restored on the piazza, he rose once more to 
address his guests. 

" My children," he said, solemnly, " you hear my voice for 
the last time. Even the wren cannot sing forever. The very 
eagle's wing gets tired in time. T shall soon cease to speak. 
When I reach the happy hunting-grounds of the Onondagoes, 
I will tell the warriors I meet there of your visit. Your fothcrs 
shall know that their sons still love justice. Let the pale-faces 



524 THE REDSKINS. 

sign papers, and laugli at them afterward. The promise of a 
red-man is his law. If he is made a prisoner, and his con- 
querors wish to torment him, they are too generous to do so 
without letting him go to his tribe to take leave of his friends. 
When the time is reached, he comes back. If he promises 
skins, he brings them, though no law can follow into the woods 
to force him to do so. His promise goes with him ; his promise 
is stronger than chains — it brings him back. 

" My children, never forget this. You are not pale-faces, to 
say one thing and do another. What you say, you do. When 
you make a law, you keep it. This is right. No red-man 
wants another's Avigwam. If he wants a wigwam, he builds one 
himself. It is not so with the pale-faces. The man who has 
no wigwam tries to get away his neighbor's. While he does 
this, he reads in his Bible and goes to his church. I have some- 
times thought, the more he reads and prays, the more he tries 
to get into his neighbor's wigwam. So it seems to an Indian, 
but it may not be so. 

" My children, the red-man is his own master. He goes and 
comes as he pleases. If the young men strike the war-path, he 
can strike it too. He can go on the war-path, or the hunt, 
or he can stay in his wigwam. All he has to do is to keep his 
promise, not steal, and not to go into another red- man's wig- 
wam unasked. He is his own master. He does not saij so ; 
he is so. How is it with the pale-faces ? They say they are 
free when the sun rises ; they say they are free when the sun is 
over their heads ; they say they are free when the sun goes 
down behind the hills. They never stop talking of their being 
their own masters. They talk of that more than they read 
their Bibles. I have lived near a hundred winters among them, 
and know what they are. They do that ; then they take awav 
another's Avigwam. They talk of liberty ; then they say you 
shall have this farm, you shan't have that. They talk of liberty, 
and call to one another to put on calico bags, that fifty men 
may tar and feather one. They talk of liberty, and want cvcrv 
thing their own way. 



THE REDSKINS. 525 

"My cliildren, these pale-faces miglit go back with you to 
the prairies, and learn to do what is right. I do not wonder 
they hide their faces in bags. They feel ashamed ; they onght 
to feel ashamed. 

"My children, this is the last time you will hear my voice. 
The tongue of an old man cannot move forever. This is my 
counsel : do what is right. The Great Spirit will tell you what 
that is. Let it be done. What my son said of me is true. It 
was hard to do ; the feelings yearned to do otherwise, but it 
was not done. In a little time peace came on my spirit, and I 
was glad. I could not go back to live among my people, for I 
was afraid of doing what was wrong. I staid among the pale- 
faces, and made friends here. My children, farewell ; do what 
is right, and you will be happier than the richest pale-face who 
does what is wrong." 

Susquesus took his scat, and at the same time each of the 
redskins advanced and shook his hand. The Indians make 
few professions, but let their acts speak for them. Not a sylla- 
ble was uttered by one of those rude warriors as he took his 
leave of Susquesus. Each man had willingly paid this tribute 
to one whose justice and self-denial were celebrated in their 
traditions, and having paid it, he went his way satisfied, if not 
altogether happy. Each man shook hands, too, with all on the 
piazza, and to us they expressed their thanks for their kind 
treatment. My uncle Ro had distributed the remains of his 
trinkets among them, and they left us with the most amicable 
feelings. Still there was nothing dramatic in their departure. 
It was simple as their arrival. They had come to see the Up- 
right of the Onondagoes, had fulfilled their mission, and were 
ready to depart. Depart they did, and as I saw their lino 
winding along the highway, the episode of such a visit appeared 
to us all more like a di*eam than reality. No interruption oc- 
curred to the return of these men, and half an hour after they 
had left the piazza we saw them winding their way up the hill, 
descending which we had first seen them. 

" Well, Hodge," said Jack Dunning, two or three hours 



626 THE REDSKINS. 

later, " what is your decision ; will you remain here, or vvil 
you go to your own place in Westchester ?" 

" I will remain here until it is our pleasure to depart ;" then 
we will endeavor to be as free as Indians, and go where wc 
please, provided always we do not go into our neighbor's wig- 
wam against his will." 

Jack Dunning smiled, and he paced the library once or twice 
before he resumed. 

" They told me, as soon as I got into the county, that you, 
and all belonging to you, were preparing to retreat the morning 
after the attempt to fire your house." 

" One of those amiable perversions of the truth that so much 
embellish the morality of the whole aftair. What men wish, 
they fancy, and what they fancy, they say. The girls, even, 
protest they would not quit the house while it lias a roof to 
cover their heads. But, Jack, whence comes this spirit ?" 

" I should think that was the last question a reasonably in- 
formed man need ask," answered Dunning, laughing. "It is 
very plain where it comes from. It comes from the devil and 
has every one of the characteristics of his handy work. In the 
first place, love of money, or covetousness, is at its root. Then 
lies are its agents. Its first and most pretending lie is that of 
liberty, every principle of which it tramples underfoot. Then 
come in the fifty auxiliaries in the way of smaller inventions, 
denying the facts of the original settlement of the country, 
fabricating statements concerning its progress, and asserting 
directly in the teeth of truth, such statements as it is supposed 
will serve a turn.* There can be no mistaking the origin of 



* The friglitful propensity to effect its purposes by lying, lias eome to such a head ivi 
the country, as seriously to threaten the subversion of all justice. Without luivertiiig 
to goneral facts, two circumstances directly connected -n-ith this anti-rent question, 
force themselves on my attention. They refer to largo estates that were inherited by 
an Englishman, who passed half of a long life in the country. In public legislative 
documents it has been pretended that the question of his title to his estates is still 
open, when the published reports of the highest court of the country show that a deci- 
sion was made in his favor thirty years since; and, in reference to his heir, it has beeu 
odJcially Btjitod that he has invariably refused to give any leases but such as riin on 
lives. Now, it is of littlo moment whether this be true or not, since the law allows 



THE REDSKINS, 627 

such contrivances, or all that has been taught us of good and 
evil is a fiction. Really, Hodge, I am astonished that so sensi- 
ble a man should have asked the question." 

"Perhaps you are right, Jack; but to what will it lead?" 

"Aye, that is not so easily answered. The recent events in 
Delaware have aroused the better feelings of the country, and 
there is no telling what it may do. One thing, however, I hold 
to be certain ; the spirit connected with this affair must be put 
down, thoroughly, effectually, completely, or we are lost. Lot 
it once be understood, in the country, that men can control 
their own indebtedness, and fashion contracts to suit their own 
purposes, by combinations and numbers, and pandemonium 
would soon be a paradise compared to New York. There is 
not a single just ground of complaint in the nature of any of 
these leases, Svhatever hardships may exist in particular cases ; 
but, admitting that there were false principles of social life, 
embodied in the relation of landlord and tenant, as it exists 
among us, it would he a far greater evil to attemjit a reform 
under such a combination, than to endure the original loroncjy 

"T suppose these gentry fancy themselves strong enough to 
thrust their interests into politics, and hope to succeed by tliat 
process. But anti-masonry, and various other schemes of that 
sort have failed, hitherto, and this may fail along with it. That 
is a redeeming feature of the institutions. Jack ; you may hum- 
bug for a time, but the humbuggery is not apt to last forever. 
It is only to be regretted that the really upright portion of the 
community arc so long in making themselves felt ; would they 
only be one-half as active as the miscreants, wc should get along 
well enough." 

"Tlie result is unknown. The thing may be put down, 
totally, effectually, and in a way to kill the snake, not scotcli 

PTerj'inan to do ns he may jiloasc in this rcspeoL But the fiiol, ns I undcrstind from 
the tfceiit who drawa tlic leases, is precisely the reverse of that which has been openly 
stated in this legislative document; the i-resent possessor of the estate in question 
nAVTNa BiaiN eaknestly solicited by the tenants to grant new leases on lives, 
A'iD AJSEOLUTSXY KEFCI8ED TO COMPLY I In this instancc the legislature, dcubtless, 
ho?6 fco?n deceived by the interested representations of anti-renters.— Editoe, 



»'>28 THE REDSKINS. 

it ; or it may be met with only half-way measures ; in which 
case it will remain like a disease in the human system, always 
existing, always menacing relapses, quite possibly to bo the 
agent of the final dcsti-uction of the body." 

My uncle, nevertheless, was as good as his word, and did 
remain in the country, where he is yet. Our establishment has 
received another reinforcement, however, and a change occurred, 
shortly after our visit from the Injins, in the policy of the anti- 
renters, the two giving us a feeling of security that might other- 
wise have been wanting. The reinforcement came from certain 
young men, who have found their way across from the springs, 
and become guests at the Nest. They are all old acquaintances 
of mine, most of them school-fellows, and also admirers of the 
young ladies. Each of my uncle's wards, the Coldbrooke and 
the Marston, has an accepted lover, as we now discovered, cir- 
cumstances that have left me unobstructed in pursuing my suit 
with Mary Warren. I have found Patt a capital ally, for she 
loves the dear girl almost as much as I do myself, and has been 
of great service in the aftair. I am conditionally accepted, 
though Mr. Warren's consent has not been asked. Indeed, I 
much question if the good rector has the least suspicion of what 
is in the wind. As for my uncle Ro, he knew all about it, 
though I have never breathed a syllable to him on the subject 
Fortunately, he is well satisfied with the choice made by his 
two wards, and this has somewhat mitigated the disappoint- 
ment. 

My uncle Ro is not in the least mercenary ; and the circum- 
stance that Mary Warren has not a cent, gives him no concern, 
lie is, indeed, so rich himself that he knows it is in his power 
to make any reasonable addition to my means, and, if neces- 
sary, to place me above the dangers of anti-rentism. The fol- 
lowing is a specimen of his humor, and of his manner of doing 
things when the humor takes him. We were in the library 
one morning, about a week after the Injins were shamed out of 
the field by the Indians, for that was the secret of their final 
disappeai'ancc from our part of the country ; but, one nioniing, 



THE REDSKINS. 529 

about a week after tlieir last visit, my grandmother, my uncle, 
Patt and I were seated in the library, chatting over matters and 
things, when my uncle suddenly exclaimed — 

" By the way, Hugh, I have a piece of important news to 
communicate to you ; news affecting your interests to the tune 
of fifty thousand dollars." 

" No more anti-rent dangers, I hope, Roger ?" said my grand- 
mother, anxiously. 

"Hugh has little to apprehend from that source, just now. 
The Supreme Court of the United States is his buckler, and it 
is broad enough to cover his whole body. As for his future 
leases, if he will take my advice, he will not grant one for a 
term longer than five years, and then his tenants will become 
clamorous petitioners to the legislature to allow them to make 
their own bargains. Shame will probably bring your free-trade 
men round, and the time will come when your double-distilled 
friends of liberty will begin to see it is a very indifferent sort of 
freedom which will not permit a wealthy landlord to part with 
his farms for a long period, or a poor husbandman to make the 
best bargain in his power. No, no ; Hugh has nothing serious 
to apprehend, just now at least, from that source, whatever 
may come of it hereafter. The loss to which I allude is much 
more certain, and to the tune of fifty thousand dollars, I 
repeat." 

"That is a good deal of money for me to lose, sir," I an- 
swered, but little disturbed by the intelligence; "and it might 
embarrass me to raise so large a sum in a hurry. Nevertheless, 
I confess to no very great concern on the subject, notwithstand- 
ing your announcement. I have no debts, and the title to all 
I possess is indisputable, unless it shall be decided that a royal 
grant is not to be tolerated by republicans." 

"All very fine. Master Hugh, but you forget that you are 
the natural heir of my estate. Patt knows that she is to have 
a slice of it when she marries, and I am now about to make a 
Bettlement of just as much more on another young lady, byway 
of marriage portion." 
23 



530 THE R E D S II I N S . 

"Roger!" exclaimed my grandmotlicr, "you surely do nol 
iiican "svliat you say ! Of as much more 1" 

" Of precisely that money, my dear mother. I have taken 
a fancy to a young lady, and as I cannot marry her myself, I 
am determined to mate her a good match, so far as money is 
concerned, for some one else." 

" But why not marry her yourself?" I asked. " Older men 
than yourself marry every day." 

" Ay, Avidowers, I grant you ; they -will marry until they are 
a thousand ; but it is not so with us bachelors. Let a man 
once get fairly past forty, and it is no easy matter to bring him 
to the sacrifice. No, Jack Dunning' s being here is the most 
fortunate thing in the world, and so I have set him at work to 
draw up a settlement on the young lady to whom I refer, 
without any rights to her future husband, let him turn out to 
be whom he may." 

"It is Mary Warren !" exclaimed my sister, in a tone of 
delight. 

My uncle smiled, and he tried to look demure ; but I cannot 
say that he succeeded particularly well. 

" It is — it is — it is Mary Warren, and uncle Ro means to 
give her a fortune !" added Patt, bounding across the floor like 
a young deer, throwing herself into her guardian's lap, hugging 
and kissing him, as if she Avere nothing but a child, though a 
fine young woman of nineteen. " Yes, it is Mary Warren, and 
uncle Hodge is a delightful old gentleman — no, a delightful 
young gentleman, and were he only thirty years younger he 
should have his own heiress for a wife himself. Good, dear, 
generous, sensible uncle Ro. This is so like him, after all liis 
disappointment ; for I know, Hugh, his heart was set on your 
marrying Henrietta." 

" And what has my marrying, or not marrying Henrietta, to 
do with this settlement of fifty thousand dollars on Miss War- 
ren ? The young ladies arc not even connected, I believe." 

'' Oh ! you know how all such things are managed," said 
T'att, blushing and laughing at the passing allusion to matri- 



T II E RE D SK I N S . 5*31 

mony, even in anotlicr; "Mary Warren will not be ]\lary War- 
ren ahvaj's." 

" Who will slic Ic, tlienl" demanded uncle Re, quicklj^ 

But Patt was too true to the rights and privileges of her sex 
to say any thing directly that might seem to commit her friend. 
She patted her uncle's check, therefore, like a saucy minx as 
slie w^as, colored still higher, looked archly at me, then averted 
her eyes consciously, as if betraying a secret, and returned to 
her seat as demurely as if the subject liad been one of the 
gravest character. 

"But are you serious in what you have told us, Roger?" 
asked my grandmother, with more interest than I supposed the 
dear old lady would be apt to feel on such a subject. " Is not 
this settlement a matter of fancy ?" 

" True as the gospel, my dear mother." 

"And is Martha right? Is Mary Warren really the favored 
joung lady ?" 

" For a novelty, Patt is right." 

"Does Mary Warren know of your intention, or has lier 
father been consulted in the matter ?" 

" Both know of it ; we had it all over together, last evening, 
and Mr. Warren consents.'''' 

"To what?" I cried, springing to my feet, the emphasis on 
the li\st word being too significant to be overlooked. 

" To receive Ilugh Roger Littlcpage, Avhich is ray own name, 
recollect, for a son-in-law ; and what is more, the young lady 
' is agreeabie.' " 

"We all know that she is more than agreeable," put in Patt; 
"she is deliglitful, excellent; agreeable is no word to apply to 
Mary Warren." 

" Pshaw, girl ! If you had travelled, now, you w<nild know 
that this expression is cockney English for agreeing to a thing. 
Mary Warren agrees to become the wife of Hugh Roger Littlc- 
page, and I settle fifty thousand dollars on bcr in consideration 
of matrimony." 

•' This Hugh linger Littlcpage," crictl I'att, throwing an arm 



532 THE REDSKINS. 

around my neck; "not tliat Hugh Roger Littlcpagc. Do bul 
add that, dearest uncle, and I will kiss you for an hour." 

"Excuse me, my child; a fourth of that time would be as 
much as I could reasonably expect. I believe you are right, 
however, as I do not remember that this Hugh Roger had any 
connection with the affair, unless it were to give his money. 1 
shall deny none of your imputations," 

Just as this was said, the door of the library was sloAvly 
opened, and Mary Warren appeared. The moment she saw 
who composed our party, she would have drawn back, but my 
grandmother kindly bade her " come in." 

"I was afraid of disturbing a family party, ma'am," Mary 
timidly answered. 

Patt darted forward, threw her arm around Maiy's waist, and 
drew her into the room, closing and locking the door. All 
this was done in a way to attract attention, and as if the young- 
lady wished to attract attention. We all smiled but Mary, who 
seemed half pleased, half frightened. 

" It is a family party," cried Patt, kissing her affianced sis- 
ter, " and no one else shall be admitted to it, unless good Mr. 
Warren come to claim his place. Uncle Ro htas told us all 
about it, and we know all." 

Mary hid her face in Patt's bosom, but it Avas soon drawn 
out by my dear grandmother to kiss it ; then my uncle had his 
turn, and Patt hers. After this, the whole party, except Mary 
and I, slid out of the room, and — yes, and then it was mi/ 
turn. 

Wc are not yet married, but the day is named. The same 
is true with respect to the wards, and even Patt blushes, and 
my grandmother smiles, occasionally, when gentlemen Avho are 
travelling in Egypt just now, are named. The last letters from 
young Beekman, they tell me, say that he was then there. The 
tln-ee marriages are to take place in St. Andrew's Church, Mr. 
Warren being engaged to officiate. 

The reader will be surprised to hear two things. My en- 
gagement with the daughter of a poor clergyman has produced 



T tl E UE D S IC I N S . 533 

2;<o:il scandal auiuiig the anti-rcntcrs, tlicy who so h^iuliy decry 
ai'istoci'acy ! Tlic objection is that th.e match is not equal ! 
That equality Avhich is the consequence of social position, con- 
nections, education and similarity of habits, thoughts, and, if 
you Avill, prejudices, is all thrown away on these persons. They 
have no notion of its existence ; hut they can very well under- 
stand that the owner of an unencumbered and handsome estate 
is richer than the heiress of a poor divine, who can just make 
the year meet on $500 per annum. I let them grumble, as I 
know they must and will find fault with something connected 
with myself, until they have got away my land, or are satisfied 
it is not to be had. As for Opportunity, I have been assured 
that she threatens to sue me for a "breach of promise;" nor 
should I be at all surprised were she actually to nuikc the 
attempt. It is Ijy no means unusual, when a person sets his or 
her whole soul on a particular object, to imagine circumstances 
favorable to his or her views, which never had an existence ; 
and Opportunity may fimcy that what I have heai'd has been 
" the buzzing in her own ear." Then the quackery of legisla- 
tures has set the ladies at work in earnest, and he will soon be 
a fortunate youth who can pass through his days of celibacv 
without some desperate assault, legal or moral, from the other 
sex. Besides, nothing can be out of the way, when it is found 
that the more popular and most numerous branch of the legis- 
lature of New York really believes it can evade that solemn 
provision of the Constitution of the United States, which says 
" no state shall pass any law impairing the obligations of con- 
tracts," by enacting, as they can regulate the statute of descent, 
that whenever a landlord dies, the tenant, by applying to the 
chancellor, can have his leasehold tenure converted into a mort- 
gage, on discharging which the land will be his, unencumbered! 
We have heard of a "thirable-rig administration" in England, 
■•\nd really that industrious nation seems to have exported the 
breed to this coimtry. How many of those who voted for such 
a law will like to see the ayes and noes on tlic journals of tho 
vi:~:-.L'mblv ten vears hence? If there should be cue such man 



534 TIIK REDSKINS. 

left in the state, lie will be an object of humane commiseration. 
We have had many efforts at legislative chicanery, and some 
that have been tolerably clever, but this is a palpable experi- 
ment in the same way, made for a reason that every body un- 
derstands, that has not even the negative merit of ingenuity. 
Our own courts will probably disregard it, should the Senate 
even concur ; and as for those of the United States, they will, 
out of all doubt, treat it as it ought to be treated, and brand it 
with ignominy. The next step Avill be to pass a law regulating 
descents, as it is called, under the provisions of which the 
debtors of the deceased can meet his obligations with a coin 
technically called "puppies." 

Jaaf diivels away. The black occasionally mumbles out his 
sentiments concerning past events, and the state of the country. 
An anti-renter he regards as he would a thief, and makes no 
bones of saying so. Sometimes he blunders on a very good re- 
mark in connection with the subject, and one lie made no later 
than yesterday, is worthy of notice. 

"What dem feller want, Masscr Hugh?" he demanded, 
" Dey's got one half of deir farms, and now dey wants tudder 
half. S'pose I own a cow, or a sheep, in par'nership, what 
right I got to say I will have him all ? Gosh ! dere no sich law 
in olc time. Den, who cbber see sich poor Injins ! Redskins 
mis' rabble enough, make 'e bess of him, but dis Injin so mis'- 
rubble dat I doesn't Avon'er you can't bear hira. Oh ! how ole 
I do git — I do t'ink ole Sus can't last much longer, too !" 

Old Susquesus still survives, but an object of great hatred to 
all the anti-renters, far and near. The "Injhi" sj'stcm has been 
broken up, temporarily at least, but the spirit which brought it 
into existence survives under the hypocritical aspect of "hu- 
man rights." The Upright of the Onondagoes is insensible of 
the bad feeling which is so active against him, nor is it prob- 
able that most of those who entertain this enmity are conscious 
of the reason ; which is simply the fact that he is a man who 
respected laws to the making of which he was a party, and pre- 
ferred to suiTer rather than be guilty of an act of injustice. 



THE U E D S li 1 N S . 



NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 



llei'c the manuscript of Mr. Ilugli Roger Littlepagc, jun., 
terminates. That gentleman's feelings liavc probably forbidden 
his relating events so recent as those which have since occurred. 
It remains, therefore, for us to add a few words. 

Jaaf died about ten days since, railing at the redskins to the 
last, and talking about his young massers and missuses as long 
as he had breath. As for his own descendants, he had not been 
heard to name them, for the last forty years. 

Susquesus still survives, but the "Injins" are all defunct. 
Public opinion has, at last, struck that tribe out of existence, 
and it is hoped that their calico bags have been transmitted to 
ccilain politicians among us, who, as certain as the sun rises 
and sets, will find them useful to conceal their OAvn countenances, 
when contrition and shame come, as contrition and shame will 
bo sure to succeed such, conduct as theirs. 

It may be well to add a word on the subject of the tone of 
this book. It is the language of a man who feels that he has 
been grievously injured, and who writes with the ardor of youth 
increased by the sense of wrong. As editors, we have nothing 
more to do with that than to see, while calling things by their 
right names, that language too strong for the public taste should 
not be introduced into our pages. As to the moral and politi- 
cal principles connected with this matter, wc arc wholly of the 
side of the Messrs. Littlepagc, though we do not think it neces- 
sary to adopt all their phrases — phrases that may be natural to 
men in their situations, but Avhich would be out of place, per- 
haps, in the mouths of those who act solely in the capacity of 
essayists and historians. 

To conclude : — Mr. Littlepagc and Mary "Warren were mar 
ried, in St. Andrew's Church, a very few days since. We met 
the young gentleman, on his wedding tour, no later than yestcr- 
dav, and he assured us that, iirovidci] with such a companion, 
he was ready to change his domicile tu any ether part of the 



636 THE U £, D S K I N tJ . 

Union, and that lie had selected Washington, for the express 
purpose of being fovorably situated for trying the validity of the 
laws of the United States, as opposed to the " thimble -rigging'' 
of the New York Legislature. It is his intention to have every 
question connected Avith the covenants of his leases clearly set- 
tled, that of taxing the landlord for property on whicli the 
tenant has covenanted to pay all taxes; that of distress for rent, 
when distress must precede the re-entry stipulated for by the 
leases ; and that of any other trick or device Avhich the brains 
of your " small-potato" legislature may invent in order to 
wrong him out of his property. As for ourselves, we can only 
say, God give him success ! for wc arc most deeply impressed 
that the more valuable parts of the institutions of this country 
can be preserved only by crushing into the dust this nefarious 
spirit of cupidity, which threatens the destruction of all moral 
feeling and every sense of right that remains among us. 

In our view, Oregon, Mexico, and Europe, united against us, 
do not threaten this nation with one-half as much real danger 
as that which menaces it at this moment, from an enemy that is 
now in possession of many of its strongholds, and which is in- 
cessantly working its evil under the cry of liberty, while laying 
deeper the foundation of a most atrocious tyranny. 

I forgot to add, Mr. Littlepage significantly remarked, at 
parting, that siiould AVashington fail him, he has the refuge of 
Florence open, where he can reside among the other victims of 
oppression, with the advantage of being admired as a refugee 
from republican tyranny. 






B K E S S A N T. 

By JULIAN HAWTHORNE. 
1 vol., 12mo. Cloth Tiicc, §1.50 



From the London Examiner. 

" TVo will not say that Mr. Juli.in Hawthorne has received a. doulilo portion of his 
father's spirit, but 'Bres.sant' proves that he has inherited the distinctive tone and 
lilire of a gilt which was altog-ether exceptional, and moved the author of the 'Scarlet 
Letter' beyond the roach of imitators. 

" l?rc.s.sant, Sophie, and Cornelia, appear to tis invested with a sort of enchantment 
wliich wo .should find it diflicult to account for by any reference to any special passage 
in their story." 

From the London Aihenaum. 
"Mr. Hawthorne's book forms a remarkable contrast, in point of power and interest, 
to the dreary mass of so-cilled romances through which the reviewer works his way. 
It is not our purpose to forestall the reader, by any detailed account of the story; suf- 
fice it to say that, if we can accept the i>rcliminary difficulty of the i)roblem, its solution, 
in all its steps, is most admirably worked out." 

From the Pall ifall Gazette. 
"So far as a man may be judged by his first work, Mr. Julian ll.iwthome is en- 
dowed with a large share of his father's peculiar genius. We tiace in 'Bressniit' the 
sumo intense yearning after a high and spiritual hfe, the same passionate love of nature, 
the same subtlety and delicacy of remark, and also a little of the same tendency to in- 
dulge in the use of a half- weird, half-fantastic imagery." 

From the New Yo7-i> Times. 
"'Bressant' is, then, a work that demonstrates the fitness of its author to bear the 
name of Hawthorne. More in praise need not be said ; but, if the promise of the book 
shall not utterly fade and vanish, Julian Hawthorne, in the matuiity of his power, will 
rank sidi' by sidr with him who has hitherto beeu peerless, but whom we um.st here- 
after call the • Jilder Uawthorne.' " 

From the Boston Poxt. 
"There is beauty as well ns power in this novel, tlie two so pleasantly blended, that 
the sudden and incomjilete conclusion, although ending the romance with au abrupt- 
ness that is itself artistic, comes only too soon for the reader." 

From the Soslon Clohe. 
"It is by far the most original novel of the season that hns been published at homo 
or abroad, and will tiike high rank among the best Americ;in novels ever written." 

From the Boftoiv Gazette. 
"There is a strength in the book which takes it in a marked degree out of the range 
of ordinary works of liction It is substantially au original story. There are freshness 
and vigor in every part." 

From the Llome Journal. 
"' Hrcssant' is a remarkable romance, full of those subtle touche.5 of fancy, ntid that 
insight into the human heart, which distinguish genius from the uiero clever and en- 
tertaining writers of whom we have perhaps too many." 



D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, New York. 



"GOOD-BYE, SWEETHEART!' 



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